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Monthly Archives: December 2008

Jane Austen was born Dec 16, 1775, in Steventon, Hampshire, England, a day for us all to celebrate; however, we Riskies are celebrating Jane Austen ALL week.

We want you to celebrate with us. There will be prizes. We’ve managed to scrape up Jane Austen-related prizes to send to one lucky commenter chosen at random next Sunday after Amanda’s Saturday blog finishes our week.

What was your first introduction to Jane Austen?

I first read Pride and Prejudice in college, but I cannot say my love of Austen hit me then. At the time, I loved everything about English Literature, enough to focus on English Lit as an English major. The real impact of Jane Austen came later for me and not through her books but through a movie.

Shortly after I’d first started writing, my critique group went to see Persuasion in the movie theatre, the Amanda Root-Ciaran Hinds version. There on the big screen the world of the Regency came alive in front of my very eyes. I’d just started reading traditional Regencies at the time and the beautiful houses, the clothing, the lush countryside, the sea coast, Bath, were all before me to experience as if I were really there. I loved the performances in the movie. I loved how Amanda Root as Anne began the movie looking like a dowdy spinster and ended up beautiful when the love she’d lost came back to her. I loved how Ciaran Hinds as Captain Wentworth was not movie-star handsome, but seemed like a real man from that era. All the characters in the movie seemed perfectly cast and the scenery was unsurpassed. Look here for the movie trailer and you will see what I mean.

I still didn’t return to reading Austen at that time. That came later when I decided to try writing a Regency Historical. To help me develop a “Regency Voice” I listened to Jane Austen’s novels in audio book form over and over. Persuasion was still my favorite. I loved the “second chance” aspect of it.

You can hear a sample of that audio recording here.

Through the audio versions of Jane Austen’s novels, I truly began to appreciate her storytelling mastery. It is no wonder that librarians chose Pride and Prejudice as their number one favorite novel of all time…and Persuasion as number 82.

For more about Persuasion look here

For Cara’s Jane Austen Movie Club discussion of the 1995 movie Persuasion look here.

Tell us, did you love Jane Austen at your first exposure or did it happen later? Did you start with a movie or a book?

Don’t forget, we’re giving away Jane Austen-related prizes in honor of her birthday, so make a comment today and all week.

Come visit my website and enter my contest by Dec 20 for a chance to win Mistletoe Kisses.

 

Oh, by the way, here’s a photo of my son’s graduation. He really did it!!
The little arrow is pointing to him. If you can see a bearded face, my son is right behind him.

I don’t really believe in New Year’s Resolutions. Not of the sort like “I will exercize/write/whatever-makes-me-feel-virtuous more” variety. They generally don’t work out.

I do, however, believe in New Year’s Plans. Things like “I will go to the pool and swim half an hour three mornings a week.” I did that several years ago and have kept up with it pretty religiously. Or “I will work on my mess-in-progress for so many hours a week”. I find that as long as I make it specific, I’m pretty good at following through.

This year, I’m making a simple resolution, to remember to treat myself as a valued employee of my writing business rather than a slave. This means rewarding myself for making progress, allowing myself sick time if necessary, and making the time to lunch with writer buddies more often.

Of course, plans sometimes go awry. I’d planned to host my writer buddies at my home today for a post-holiday detox/New Year’s recharging party (complete with Mimosas, egg and cheesy things and of course, plenty of chocolate). However, we’ve had a minor blizzard which puts me to Plan B, hanging with the kids. I’m also snatching an hour to write while they’re out playing in the snow.

I expect the plans for this evening should work out. My husband and I used to go out for New Year’s in the years BK (Before Kids) but after that, sleep deprivation and the difficulty of getting sitters took over. Although in spirit I like the idea of family-friendly First Night celebrations, it’s usually so bitterly cold in our area that we’ve gone over to “cocooning”. We have a nice dinner at home, including at least one new recipe for the New Year. This year it’s cannoli cheesecake. Afterwards we all get into our PJs and go into the finished basement (aka the Man Cave) to watch movies until midnight. We watch the ball drop, we hug and kiss and then we’re all in bed by about 12:05.

So what is everyone else doing today or this evening? And I wish you all a happy and prosperous 2009!

Elena
www.elenagreene.com


Some snippets from an 1829 cookbook:

Coffee, like tea, promotes watchfulness; indeed some persons cannot sleep after drinking it in an evening.

It is considered good for asthmatic patients. A mixture of made-mustard in coffee, is reckoned good for rheumatic persons. Coffee is also considered beneficial in dull headache.

Roasted acorns, beech-mast, rye, pease, beans, &c. &c. are all used as substitutes for coffee; and by frugal French families chicory put to the coffee grounds, and boiled up afresh, is allotted to servants and young members of the household.

The bad quality of English coffee is become a sort of national reproach. Its capital defect is a want of material, or that material having either lain too long in powder, or in roasted berries. Coldness is the reproach of our coffee even more than muddiness.

So, coffee lovers: does this curl your toes? Are you picky about your coffee? Or do you drink whatever comes your way, as long as it has caffeine?

And don’t forget: next Tuesday, we’re discussing the first Ioan Gruffudd “Horatio Hornblower” here at Risky Regencies!

Cara
Cara King, who prefers tea

I am caught unprepared!

First of all, I stayed up all night to finish my Undone. You know, the one you all helped me with on 11/24/08. (janegeorge, I still promise to write about my writing routine…..someday).

Now before you feel sorry for me; it was my own fault that I didn’t use my time more efficiently. This story was only 10,000 to 15,000 words and I should have been able to write that in a week or two.

And I didn’t spend a great deal of time on the holidays except for one marathon 5 1/2 hour binge of shopping for everything last Tuesday.

New Year’s resolution–MAKE BETTER USE OF MY TIME!

Anyway I wound up pleased with the story and here is hoping Linda Fildew likes it, too. At least this time I did not accidentally delete it before sending it, like I did last summer when I stayed up all night to meet a deadline.

BUT…What I really wanted to blog about was my very favorite Christmas gift. My IPhone!

On Christmas eve my husband decided to get himself an IPhone for Christmas, which was fine with me, because what I got him was very unexciting and I was sick of hearing him discuss the pros and cons of various phones. To me this was an extravagance that we didn’t really need, but, let’s face it, I caved.

He came back with an IPhone for me, too!!!
Mine is white (as you can see) and I’ve fallen in love with it.

I can read my email anytime, anywhere, and even answer it, although the keyboard is a bit tedious. I used it to respond to Megan’s and Amanda’s blogs! I can read our Risky Regencies blog anytime, anywhere. It already has my calendar and my addresses and my ITunes. It has GAMES and YouTube! Plus it is a breeze to use.

Needless to say, I spent a lot of time playing with my IPhone when I should have been writing. I also enjoyed my family who all came for Christmas dinner here, my kids, my sisters, my brother-in-law and niece. My sister said the magic words a few days before Christmas, “Why don’t you get a ham?” Yay! No turkey to cook!

What was your favorite Christmas gift?

By the way, The Wet Noodle Posse will be back after Jan 1.
There is still a contest on my website and updates to be made very soon.

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I wasn’t sure what to blog about today. I’m still in a post-Christmas stupor of wine, candy, piles of new books (yay!), whipping the WIP into shape to be sent in, playing with the dogs with their new toys, etc. I’ve also been wasting lots of time reading other blogs–beauty product blogs, opera blogs, movie blogs, whatever looks interesting. On some of my favorite movie blogs, they have had a meme going around listing 20 favorite actresses, which I have really enjoyed following. On these blogs, “favorite” can mean anything–most beautiful, most interesting, actresses you will watch in any movie no matter how bad. So I decided to do something like that.

These are 20 favorites. 10 actresses and 10 actors, which I find to be especially useful when needing some inspiration for characters. They’re not necessarily the best actors (though some definitely are), but they are interesting in many ways. (And, btw, if you need a pick-me-up kind of movie this dismal time of year, run out and see Happy-Go-Lucky. It’s fabulous, definitely my favorite of the movies I’ve seen this year, and I hope to see Sally Hawkins in the Oscar line-up next month. I didn’t much like her as Anne Elliott, but she is perfect in this movie).

Ten Actresses:

Charlotte Gainsbourg

Audrey Tautou (I do like French movies…)

Penelope Cruz

Cate Blanchett

Keira Knightley

Emily Mortimer

Nicole Kidman

Natalie Portman

Rachel Weisz

Kate Winslet

And Ten Actors:

Orlando (of course!)

Matthew McFadyen

James McAvoy

James Franco (I love how he can be both intense and hilarious!)

Hugh Jackman

Rufus Sewell (btw, does anyone know what this movie is???)

David Tennant

Christian Bale

Gerard Butler (Happy Holidays, Diane!)

Clive Owen (And Happy Holidays to Megan, too!)

Who are some of your favorite “inspirations”? Seen any good movies this holiday season, or found any good bargains in the post-Christmas sales?

See you in 2009! (And be sure and join me next weekend as I “launch” my January book, High Seas Stowaway. There will be giveaways and fun pirate stuff, though sadly no warm sandy beaches…)

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