I’m celebrating the decade of the 1920s today! For what reason? Well, because my husband and I recently went to a ’20s themed party:

Getting ready for the party.

Best-selling books of the 1920s (thanks to Printed Pages for the list from Publishers Weekly):

• The Man of the Forest by Zane Grey (1920)
• Main Street by Sinclair Lewis in (1921)
• If Winter Comes by A. S. M. Hutchison (1922)
• Black Oxen by Gertrude Atherton (1923)
• So Big by Edna Ferber (1924)
• Soundings by A. Hamilton Gibbs (1925)
• The Private Life of Helen of Troy by John Erskine (1926)
• Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis (1927)
• The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder ( 1928 )
• All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque ( 1929 ) — the only one from this list I’ve read.

Popular movies from the 1920s:

Battleship Potemkin (1925)
The Gold Rush (1925)
Metropolis (1927)
Nosferatu (1922)
The Jazz Singer (1927)
Wings (1927)
The Thief of Bagdad (1924)

Note: The 1st Academy Awards were presented in 1929. The first two Best Picture winners were Wings (1927) and The Broadway Melody (1929).

Hit songs from the 1920′s:

“It Had to Be You” (1924) – Isham Jones
“Sweet Georgia Brown” (1925) – Ben Bernie
“Rhapsody in Blue” (1924) – George Gershwin
“My Blue Heaven” (1927) – Gene Austin
“My Man” (1922) – Fanny Brice
“Ain’t Misbehavin’” (1929) – Fats Wallerhttp://julieglover.com/?p=5132&preview=true
“Sonny Boy” (1928) – Al Jolson
“Yes! We Have No Bananas” (1923) – Billy Jones
“I Ain’t Got Nobody” (1921) – Marion Harris
“Ol’ Man River” (1928) – Paul Robeson
“Stardust” (1927) – Hogey Carmichael
“When You’re Smiling” (1929) – Louis Armstrong

Before that killjoy Great Depression hit in 1929, the Roaring Twenties were a fun decade! It was great to dress up and do a little Lindy Hop dancing at the party. Don’t know what the Lindy Hop is? Well, the following is a super spruced-up version from some fabulous dancers. But the basic steps are there.

Now back to 2012, the week of October 21, and an update for ROW80:

Editing: SHARING HUNTER, young adult contemporary novel.

• Complete full rewrite. Marked up 4 chapters.
• Revise using Margie Lawson’s Deep EDITS system. Studied 3 more lessons from Margie’s lecture packet.
• Deliver to beta readers. Waiting for first two.

Blogging

• Post Sunday ROW80 updates, Amaze-ing Words Wednesdays, and Deep-Fried Fridays. Posted Top Ten Ways to Spice Up the Last Debate on Sunday (sadly, they did not use Sheldon Cooper as the moderator as we suggested); High School Mascot Names on Wednesday; and High School Halls: Football and Guest Author Tiffany A. White on Friday.
  
• Send interview questions to two guests I have lined up for my blog.   Lined up a third guest and need to send her interview questions.

Writing

• Write two short stories. I didn’t work on the stories, but I did create an outline and log 2,888 words on a plot bunny. (I know, I know. Finish my current project first.)

Learning

• Read one writing craft book. Read 4 chapters (54 pages) of Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King.
• Attend workshop with Margie Lawson in Houston on October 13. Done. Enjoyed it!
• Work through lessons of Scrivener online course a second time. No progress on this goal for this week.
  

Reading

• Nothing special here. Just read. A lot. Finished 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson, started another book and put it down, and then started The Last Little Blue Envelope by Ms. Johnson.
  

Non-writing goals

• Exercise twice a week. Checking this off for the first time this round! I spent two days pulling up tile in my house, and given how incredibly sore my body is, I’m counting that as exercise. Then I did an in-home workout using my new Wii: Zumba Fitness 2 disc. A big thank-you to S.J. Maylee for keeping me accountable!
  
• Sort through photos and complete at least one album. (I stopped scrapbooking five years ago, and it’s piled up into a big mess. Moving into digital albums.) House is still too cluttered to get to this one, but reorganizing is coming along and I love my new floors.

How are your writing or other goals coming along? What book, movie or music from the 1920s did you enjoy? Do you have a favorite past decade you wish you could visit? 

Be sure to support fellow ROWers! You can find them through the blog HERE.