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[Sustack post, Authorstrator – December 2024]

I'm tired.

I'm tired of condescending hot takes and patronizing rage bait. I'm saddened by real news that only ever seems to point to the crumble of society. And I'm exhausted by the deluge of AI slop overwhelming my internet browsing.

There's enough to get mad about in the world right now, and I am in no mood to let click chasers lure me in with inciting headlines and horror stories. I just can't, not if I want to hold onto my sanity.

SO. Joy. I'm embracing it. Seeking it out. And where better to find it than in the tropey pleasures of holiday made-for-tv movies? And it appears I'm not alone. Much to my surprise, after someone recommended Hot Frosty to me in the comments (I can’t find the comment!), this little snowman darling started popping up everywhere! My brother who lives far away asked if anybody's seen it yet. My BROTHER! You don't know him, but trust me when I say he is not recommending romance on the regular.

Billed as Frosty meets Encino Man - if you don't know, Encino Man is one of my all time best loved films. This makes Hot Frosty a must watch for me. And its not just me! Guys, this thing has buzz. More so than 2022's Falling for Christmas with Lindsay Lohan (that pink outfit though🔥) .

So after a disappointing viewing of Christmas A La Mode (it was fine) I decided to stop messing around and jump right into Hot Frosty.

And. What a delight. Just pure wholesome Holiday goodness. Love conquers all. But not only did the movie deliver, as a writer, there's a lot here to admire in Hot Frosty, and indeed, a lot to admire in all the made for tv romance movies. And apparently I picked the perfect year for this because Hot Frosty has already been dethroned after a seven day run on Netflix's top 10 by The Merry Gentleman starring Chad Michael Murray, which, you can be sure, I will be watching next.

Lets get into it.

1. The story doesn't take itself too seriously. It's called Hot Frosty and basically asks "what if Frosty was hot?". This is a movie that knows it's silly - but make no mistake, everyone involved is fully embracing the silly and committing to the story. And I think that commitment, that dedication and palpable DELIGHT in the silly is what makes the movie so charming. The cast is peppered with recognizable stars, all of them bringing their A-game. They're having fun and they are all in. And I think that's important for any story teller. Don't take it all too seriously. Buy into your stories, believe them, but remember to have fun.

2. There's a sincerity to Hot Frosty, and all holiday romance movies that, as a viewer, is very inviting and makes or breaks the success of the movie. Hot Frosty believes its central premise - love winning over all things and I think the audience feels that sincerity. If the writer doesn't believe or know what it is the story is trying to do, neither will the audience.

3. For holiday romances, trope is not a dirty word, and in fact, is something to be celebrated and played with. Friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, will they won't they, small town girl next door, home from the big city, high school sweethearts. These are the staples of the holiday romance. I think working with tropes relates to not taking the story too seriously. Let go of stuffy writing rules or preconceptions that trope is a dirty word. If holiday romance movies are any kind of proof, tropes are well loved for a reason! We recognize them! We're familiar with them! Why not embrace tropes to see what you can do with them? See if you can play around and make them fresh! It doesn't have to be romance, The Chosen One is a well-trod trope of fantasy and sci fi and audiences love it time and again. What would set your Chosen One apart? What makes them different?

4. Motivation - keep it simple! What motivates a character is the heart and soul of any story I work on. What's great about the holiday romance is the characters' motivations are practically written on the screen and they inform every decision the character's make, every action and reaction. What motivates a character doesn't have to be complicated! In fact, simplest can often be best. In Hot Frosty, Kathy is a widow who has lost her true love, her happiness. Enter Jack, the ripped ice statue come to life! All he wants is to be with Kathy - that's it. That's his whole motivation for everything. Kathy is resistant to his charm (unlike everyone else in town) but little by little his acts of love thaw her cool exterior and slowly but surely, she finds happiness again. Chef's kiss When I come back to my own work, what are my characters' motivations? Are they simple? Are they clear and plain or are they overly complicated?

So that’s my Hot Frosty take away, my holiday romance lesson for this year. If I find anymore gems, I will probably share them here in the next newsletter. Til then, here's hoping next year we get "Hot Grinch."

[Substack post, Authorstrator – July 21, 2025)

I’m mostly excited to see the dog.

Ok, so its 2002/03, and I’m home alone with my younger brother. He’s somewhere downstairs, doing whatever little brother’s do – I assumed gaming. And I was in the kitchen, sneaking ice cream while my parents were out. And then my brother started screaming for me. I ran down to the basement to see what was wrong and – first thing you need to know, is there’s a really big mirror down there. And I found him, in front of this mirror, sitting on the floor with a big metal spring exercise thinger (a quick google search tells me this is a chest expander). Whatever this device is, it’s definitely old, kicking around our house since the 80s and as far as I was aware, no one had ever used it. So anyway, this thing was stuck to the top of his head. His hair – appropriately emo shaggy as was all the rage at the time – was tangled up in the coils. So tangled, so tight, he’s crying and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t untangle the mess.

“How did this happen!?” I asked, completely baffled as to how this crisis could have unfolded.

“I don’t want to tell you,” he whimpered.

“Well now you have to tell me.”

His explanation – I was not prepared for. Though I should have been. It was very HIM.

“Ok, I’ll tell you,” he said, as I picked and prodded at the snare. “I was pretending I was Superman. And I was in jail, and these were the bars. I was bending the bars with my super strength to escape….I got to my shoulders and it just kind of snapped back.”

Ouch.

Objectively hilarious, and I did laugh – not only did he feel compelled to do this, but he had to do it in front of the mirror, to really SEE his super strength unfold. But I also didn’t judge. In his defense, Smallville was one of the hottest shows at the time, and we’d crushed a lot of Lois & Clark in our younger years (DON’T JUDGE).

The guy just wanted to be Superman.

Smash cut to 2025 and that aspiration in our collective society seems gone. Everyone – the adults anyway – seem to idolize a new hero… Lex Luther.

Before we go further, I should clarify something: I have not seen the new Superman movie. YET. As a mother of three, I really don’t know when I’ll get a chance to find two free hours to go to the movies, but I know when I do, it will be to see Superman. (Probably in its dying weeks after everyone has seen it and the patrons have slowed to a dribble and if I waited a week I could get it on streaming but ITS NOT THE SAME).

This isn’t a movie review.

This is a hope and prayer for what the new Superman is going to be.

Because I need it to be great.

I didn’t know this was something I needed but ever since I saw the preview, I knew in my bones that the movie needed to be incredible or my soul would be bruised. Maybe it was the dog, maybe its Rachel Brosnahan as Lois – but something about the preview made me see Superman the way he lives rent free in my heart. Bright. Fun. Hopeful.

Superman is the idealized hero. Aspirational. The type of hero we want to believe in – the kind who always does the right thing no matter the personal cost, who has the courage to put others before himself. Who believes and upholds a greater good.

“Exactly,” a friend argued when we were discussing my excitement. “Superman is perfect. Which makes him so boring.” I had to disagree that his unfailing goodness makes him dull. Especially now, in this moment. As power seems ever further away and the powerful ever more greedy, I yearn for a hero who’s values are the ones we’ve been taught since childhood are what’s right and good. Heroes that demonstrate selflessness and serving humanity rather than sucking away from it. Values that remind us of the heroes all around us and working right now - healthcare workers, climate scientists and environmentalists, civil servants and more. The values we were told society believed in.

Now, it feels like we were duped. Like the adult world around us not only fully celebrated a Lex Luthor ethos but spawned a whole bunch more of him. And no one seems to stand in the way.

As everything falls apart and the pillars of truth crumble around us, there’s a sinking feeling that valuing good and truth and justice was never real to begin with. A sucker’s game. Empathy and respect are attributes of the lame, weak, pathetic, while private yachts hosting geriatric foam parties and hysterical chainsaw flailing are markers of strength and power.

What would Lex Luthor do? The question muraled on the walls of corporate headquarters everywhere.

So in the midst of all that, here comes yet another superhero movie. And not just any superhero. THE superhero. The Übermensch himself. James Gunn’s Superman. While I hunt down a babysitter and spend my one free night out at my beloved movie theatre that, as a mom, I get to visit so rarely, I need this Superman to do something for me:

I don’t want Superman to just be the Superman we were introduced to - the pillar of good and truth and doing the right thing no matter the personal cost. I need that, but ALSO:

I need Superman to look on 2025 and just endure. And I think of that little boy bending bars in front of the mirror. A boy looking for a hero to emulate. To show him how to face the world.

Here we are, all grown up now, and I need a hero too.

And I don’t need explosions and expansive fortresses of solitude to feel like the new Superman is the one I’m looking for.

I don’t even need to see him catch planes from the sky or stop meteors in their tacks, wrestle godzillas and leap tall buildings. What I need to see him do is confront a private equity takeover of a crumbling Daily Planet and struggle to stay on staff. To fight to tell the truth as corporate interests infect the newsroom, catching and killing important information that should inform the public. To have his job taken by a robot. To try to opt out of an AI assistant automatically loaded to his computer and feel hopeless when it seems he can’t. To sit and watch a fleet of private jets head off to their latest space tourism stunt while he sips from a paper straw. I need to see him just survive it all. And stay optimistic and good and loving while he does it.

Because if anyone can survive it, its Superman.

And hopefully show us all how.

It's a new year and a new home!

Authorstrator, my writing and drawing newsletter that was previously on Substack, has now, thanks to the computer talents of my dear husband, moved to its permanent digs here on my own website - my space, my control.

As much as I loved the community we built on the old newsletter, so much of anything on a big platform is largely out of my control. Here on my own website, I can create the kind of space I want. So this is no longer a newsletter, it's a blog - great news! Nothing clogging up your inbox. You're welcome.

But it also means that I maybe screaming into the wind - no emails means no alert that something new has posted. I will be sure to share new posts on blsky and instagram. But other than that...who knows, maybe i'll be talking to myself. Are you out there? Can you hear me? Is this thing on?

I've got lots of fun planned - from updates about Lydia Cooper is a Lie (its out in June!), to more traditional art, to new comic characters I'm cooking up and am excited to introduce you to right here on Authorstrator.

I do hope you'll pop in now and again to see what we're talking about, what we're reading, writing and drawing!

Happy new year!