The first Wednesday of each month, members of IWSG announce a question that members can answer in their IWSG Day post. These questions may prompt you to share insight or a personal experience or story. Remember, the question is optional. IWSG was founded by Alex J. Cavanaugh and is a forum of writers who gather to talk about writing and the writer's life. Remember, the question is optional.
The awesome co-hosts for the September 2 posting of the IWSG are:
PJ Colando, J Lenni Dorner, Deniz Bevan, Kim Lajevardi, Natalie Aguirre, and Louise - Fundy Blue!
September 2 question – if you could choose one author, living or dead, to be your beta partner who would it be and why?
Ooo!
My own beta partner who’s an author living or dead?
OMG! That would be fab!
Mine...pens down...would be Gertrude Stein... a famed icon of modernism.
Why?
Let me digress and tell you about Gertrude Stein's character in one of my favorite movies Midnight in Paris.
Here’s the short synopsis: it’s present day. A writer goes to Paris doubting his ability to write a novel. One night he’s out walking and at midnight a 1920’s car pulls up and the occupant, Ernest Hemingway, tells him to get in and takes him back in time to meet Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald and other writers and artists. The writer then kvetches to Hemingway about his unfinished manuscript, and Hemingway introduces the writer to Gertrude Stein who offers to read the manuscript and critique it, which she does.
OMG! I would LOVE it if she could do that for one of my manuscripts!
But just as much as her critique, I would love to have been at Stein's home on a Saturday evening for her formal gatherings that brought writers and artists who helped define modernism in literature and art. Attendees often included:. ErnestHemingway. Pablo Picasso, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis, James Joyce, Ezra Pound, Thornton Wilder, Henri Matisse, and many more. She called them the Lost Generation..
Well, there you have it...
Gertrude is my pick for a beta partner.
Imagine the conversations? The inspiration? The imbibing?
And speaking of imbibing...
Hemingway, a frequent guest of Stein...
Is not only known as a famous writer but also a famous imbiber.
So in the spirit of him...
And the others of the "Lost Generation"...
And also to the only book of his I've read - A Moveable Feast.
I raise my bottle of Absinth...
Who would your beta be?
Always,
Em-Musing
4 comments:
If you're ever out at midnight and Hemingway pulls up, get in!
I really need to watch that movie. I had no idea what it was about.
Wow - a movie from the way back machine! I saw it and loved it and wished to be Owen Wilson. Huzzah!
I'd likely have swallowed my tonsils and remained silent as a peeping tom to be among the famed writers... imbibing my share of Alice B. Toklas brownies for sure...
I must see that movie! I had no idea the is what it is about. Fabulous choice for a Beta reader! I'd love to spend an evening with the Lost Generation for sure! Take care!
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