My Jane Austen Summer
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Category Archives: Jane Austen
Should I Laugh in the Face of Rejection?
Kathryn Stockett spoke to a standing room only crowd in a huge church sanctuary because there wasn’t enough room anywhere else in Dallas for her rock-star crowd. We were totally with her when she began reading from a pile of rejection letters. She named names, and what could we do but laugh at the stupidity of the agents and editors who rejected THE HELP. We loved imagining how they must be kicking themselves, no longer able to trust their judgment, mortified and embarrassed before the entire literary world.
Posted in Cindy Jones, Jane Austen, My Jane Austen Summer
Tagged Cindy Jones, Kathryn Stockett, My Jane Austen Summer, Rejection, The Help
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Writers’ Houses
Rebecca Reynolds is a museum education consultant in the UK
Guest Post
by Rebecca Reynolds
In her book The Silent Woman: Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes, Janet Malcolm talks about reading a biography of Plath by Anne Stevenson. Malcolm found that the quotations from Plath’s poetry in the book spoke more strongly than the biographical part: ‘the voices began to take over the book and to speak to the reader over the biographer’s head. They whispered “Listen to me, not to her. I am authentic.”’
Trespassing for Fiction: How I Stole a Manor House for My Novel
Previously published on Girlfriends Book Club
Since we are discussing setting I will reluctantly work past my discomfort to share, not only how I obtaine
d realistic details to create the manor house in my novel, but also how a sense of poetic entitlement caused me to behave badly. Ahem. (Sound of me clearing throat). I avoided arrest and have purposely omitted names in this post in order to protect myself.
Jane Austen and Lord Byron Spar–in my Office
Previously Published April 4, 2012 | 
on Austen Authors
My office has become rather crowded lately. On the day my agent told me I needed a better title for my new novel, the banter had reached such a level I could not hear myself think. Some of my imaginary friends would have to go–but which? Jane Austen has been around ever since I began writing My Jane Austen Summer. She was present for the endless rewrites, editorial submission, and the launch. Byron, Shelley, and Keats arrived the day I began writing the new novel. We’d been busy working for the past three years, puzzling out scenes and dialogue for their cameo appearances. But once the new novel was finished–(except for the title)–the Romantic Poets became idle–which is not a good thing. Shelley plays with the faucets in my bathroom. Jane Austen has been teaching Keats to cough into his sleeve which makes a mess. And Byron is Byron.
Posted in Austen Authors, Cindy Jones, Jane Austen, My Jane Austen Summer
Tagged Cindy Jones, Jane Austen, Keats, Lord Byron, Mahler, Shelley
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Skyping My Jane Austen On Her Birthday
My Jane Austen looks kind of like this
I Skyped from my office. “Happy birthday!” I said. Clearly her house was full of revelers and I struggled to hide my embarrassment. “I’m sorry to interrupt your party.”
“Nonsense, Jane Austen said, “You’ve saved me the trouble of inviting you.”
I fell into the awkward lull.
“Don’t fret, you’re not the only guest to arrive via Skype,” she said. “We just hung up with Mark Twain.”
“But he’s dead.” Her guests looked oddly familiar. “Is that Charlotte Bronte?” I asked.
Jane turned to look. “Yes,” she said.
Posted in Cindy Jones, contest, Jane Austen, My Jane Austen, My Jane Austen Summer
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JASNA AGM: Insider Report (with a secret)
This blog was posted on Austen Authors on September 24, 2011
AGM Steering Committee Meets in Ft. Worth
Happy Anniversary to Us!
Just over a year ago, Sharon Lathan and Abigail Reynolds, two Austen-inspired authors with unnatural amounts of energy and leadership, invited me to join a community of writers developing a cooperative blog to celebrate Jane Austen. The blog, Austen Authors, gathers readers and writers, Janeites, and Darcy fans each day for a dose of Austen-related comradery. Whether it be to launch a new Austen-inspired novel, share a piece of historical research, or report on current Austen-related events, the blogsite brims with enthusiasm and life. Where there had been nothing, there is now an efficient organization that serves fresh content daily. Where there had been nobody, there are now hundreds of visitors and subscribers who, in this crazy-busy world gather to share a common interest.
Posted in Austen Authors, Blogging, Cindy Jones, Jane Austen
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