Year of Ann Dvorak: Day 312

I’m not sure what I expected to feel once the book was released. I was hoping to experience a sense of accomplishment and relief, but instead I have been a nervous wreck. It honestly didn’t occur to me that books take time to read and feedback would not be immediately forthcoming. I have been on pins and needles all week, obsessively checking the Internet for any new mention of Ann Dvorak. I normally sleep like a rock, much to the irritation of my husband who has frequent bouts of insomnia. The tables have been turned and the last few nights have been brutally restless. Last night I had a dream that someone on Goodreads gave me a 3 star review, calling the book “trite compote.” What does that even mean??

Now, the feedback is slowly starting to filter in. The first Amazon review has been posted, which is not only 5 stars, but is an intelligent and thoughtful appraisal written by someone I do not know.  The other bit of good news came through at around 2am yesterday when Liz Smith’s column was posted over at the New York Social Diary.

Liz Smith is an old school gossip columnist so to have her call Ann Dvorak: Hollywood’s Forgotten Rebel “recommended movie star reading of the moment” is pretty great. To top that off, Smith likens Ann to Gloria Swanson and posted a four minute clip of Ann and Lana Turner in A Life of Her Own, noting, “Not only does she wipe Lana off the screen, she practically burns a hole through it!”

After I finished the book and was waiting to receive the proofs, I went through I blue period where I wondered if I had devoted too much time to a subject no one cared about. Now that the feedback is starting to filter in, I am realizing more and more that Ann Dvorak was worth every moment.