Greetings, folx!
I know, I know — it’s been forever. I’ve been going through an egregious writer’s block since…2016? Suffice to say, long-form posts have just been a no-go.
Rather than continuing to hate myself for not even trying anymore, I decided to allow myself the freedom of shorter form writing. I have also missed writing reviews terribly, so guess what: I’m back, baby!
The newsletter is through Substack, a fantastic platform that allows you to send free or paid content to people via email. Archived newsletters are available on the web, so even if you don’t sign up when it starts, you can catch up easily.
My newsletter is called Sleeper Hits, which is basically short-form movie reviews of screenings where I fell asleep at some point. Okay, not all of them (it doesn’t happen during every movie!) but every good newsletter needs a gimmick and that one’s mine.
What sort of content can you expect? Obviously stuff about movies, but what’s it like? How should I describe it?
It’s pretty much just stream-of-consciousness opinions on whatever I saw in theaters that week with screencaps from IMDb at the top of each one and probably a photo of Richard Madden at the end for good measure. If I don’t see anything in theaters that week or only saw one or two things, I’ll supplement with other movies I’ve seen in general. This past week and next week, I’m including reviews on the films I saw at the Maryland Film Festival this year.
But why a newsletter? A few reasons, which I’ll copy and paste from my introductory post on my Substack website:
The first one, admittedly, is out of pure narcissism. I like seeing my words out there and at least two people have asked me fairly recently if I still review movies. I honestly haven’t written much of anything in the past few years, so I’m hoping this will jump-start that again.
The second is because while I do want to pick up writing again, I don’t have the attention span for long, professional-ish posts with my limited knowledge of SEO sprinkled in anymore. Chances are, most of us don’t anymore (thanks, smartphones!) and would love to have some short, easily digestible content in their inbox once a week or biweekly. Or they won’t. This is, after all, an experiment.
Shouldn’t I at least try for long-form post writing again? Perhaps. But today is not that day.
Do I need a third reason? I guess because I truly love movies — whether it’s praising some gorgeous cinematography or mercilessly making fun of bad dialogue, I’m just pleased as punch to live in a world where they exist and people try to make something worthwhile…even if it doesn’t always turn out that way, at least to me.
I’m only two posts in, so you still have time to catch up pretty easily. If you like what you read, please subscribe and share with your friends! My newsletter is free and if I ever move to a paid version, there will still be free posts. Paying for stuff you used to get for free is like black licorice: the worst.
Thanks for reading and I hope to get a ping in my inbox letting me know you signed up! 🙂
Amanda Kathryn Storey 