Dana Stevens told me she really liked my writing.

I had kind of a cool morning.

For people who don't know Dana Stevens, she's a columnist for the Slate Magazine, and an absolutely wonderful movie critic, who I've sort of come to swear by since discovering the website a little over a year ago. Our tastes just tend to be pretty similar, and I've come to trust her reviews well enough that I've even taken chances on ass-killers like "The Baader Meinof Complex" just because she said they were worthwhile [and, no surprise, Meinof was]. In some cases I even kind of regard her as my movie conscience, confident that since she's tackling some of the thorny problems of movies like "Inglourious Basterds" that I don't have to feel quite so bad about overlooking their flaws to enjoy them as much as I do. Which probably sounds odd, but it does help me relax a little more at the movies.

The point is I really respect her opinions and taste, and enjoy her writing style. Her reviews are always must-reads, and I've even taken to following her on Twitter [Re: thehighsign]. Once or twice lately I've even commented on some of her posts, and when she put together a pretty insightful obit for the recently departed Patrick Swayze [one of Dad's absolute favorites], I felt I had to tell her I how much I liked it. Plus anyone who touts "Roadhouse" and "Point Break" deserves major kudos.

I don't tend to expect responses from anyone other than my friends on Twitter. As far as celebrities, journalists, comic people and other writers go, I don't tend to hear back. Even Kevin Smith, who has active Q&A's there at times has never responded to me, and it's not really a great blow. So imagine my surprise when I woke up this morning and found this on my wall:

thehighsign: @themojowire Thanks a lot. I wandered over to your blog last night (insomnia-driven websurfing) and I really like your writing.

This just made my day. I mean, the obvious reasons are, of course, it's flattering to know people are reading sometimes, and it's nice to get complimented. And I've always gotten a little charge out of insomniac's solidarity too. But also, I've said to people before, if this movie thing works out, if something I write gets made someday, I really hope Stevens reviews it. Even if she hated it, you know, I could use that, use it to improve, like Steven used to say. And while this is not exactly that, it's a really cool place for praise to come from, especially now, as I'm nearing the end of the blog's first year. A little positive reinforcement is always pretty rad.

We had a short exchange on Twitter, and she was very complimentary, and sent condolences about Dad, which was nice of her. I went back and forth over doing a post here about it, because I didn't want it to seem like I was geeking out, but the honest fact is that, yes, I am a little, and also the whole thing was very flattering. And I want to remember that Dana Stevens read my blog, and the Twitter wall is just slightly...disposable, still.

In other news, I finished up on what should be the final draft of "Real Quality Comics #1," and I'll probably be posting it in the next couple of days, maybe with a flashy title advertising the fact that I'm in the market for an illustrator again. I mentioned before I have an outline for the second one, but I also need to get back to work on "The Familiar," especially now that I have the ink to make a paper copy of the script [very Dickensian life I lead sometimes]. I'm sure I'll be back here to talk about whatever I decide.

My project right now is reading "Pride and Prejudice" as quickly and as thoroughly as possible, as my kid brother is covering it in AP English and asked me to help him a little. It's funny, even with my big, bad Bennington College degree with its focus in Literature, I managed to avoid Jane Austen for the entirety of my academic career. Which I should point out was a bad decision on my part, and even sort of a head-scratcher considering what I tend to write. But I'm getting to Austen now, and am appropriately charmed, at least as much as I was with "Emma" and the half of "Persuasion" I read before Aaron asked me if I'd read "Pride" yet. So I put the more serious book on hold, and knocked this one up on my reading list, and even found out I feel less bad about that when it's for the same author. And to give someone a hand.

Cheers.