OK, as promised, here are the answers to the JA quiz I posted a few days ago. (I could only answer 6 of them):
1) Emma Woodhouse
2) Sotherton
3) Whist
4) Ward
5) Collarbone
6) Broadwood
7) Eliza
8) Catherine Morland
9) Heir at Law
10) Muslin
11) A snug farmhouse
12) Gowan’s Lotion
13) M and A
14) Meryton
15) The Laconia
16) Steward
I’m on a Jane Austen email loop, and a few weeks ago someone posted this great JA quiz from BBC Mastermind. Since I know many Regency fans are also Janeites like myself, I thought this might be a fun way to celebrate Friday! I’ll post answers in a couple of days. (Note: I’m a dedicated Janeite, and couldn’t answer all of them)
1) Which is JA’s heroine’s had lived in the world for 21 years with little to distress or vex her?
2) Name Mr. Rushworth’s country house.
3) Which card game did Mrs. Jennings arrange for old friends while Marianne awaited word from Willoughby.
4) What was the maiden name of Mrs. Norris, Mrs. Price, and Lady Bertram?
5) Which bone did little Charles dislocate allowing Anne to avoid meeting Captain Wentworth?
6) Which manufacturer made the mysterious piano sent to Jane Fairfax?
7) What was the name of Col. Brandon’s ward over whose seduction he fought a duel with Willoughby?
8) Which of JA”s heroine’s prefers cricket to books, particularly books of information?
9) Which play does Tom Bertram 5 times propose to put on before agreeing to Lover’s Vows?
10) Which material does Mr. Tilney claim to be an authority on?
11) What does Edward Ferrars say he takes more pleasure in than a watchtower?
12) To what does Sir Walter Elliot attribute Anne’s improved compexion, claiming it has done away with Mrs. Clay’s freckles?
13) At the Box Hill picnic, which 2 letters of the alphabet did Mr. Weston claim were the most perfect?
14) In which town did Mrs. Bennet’s sister Mrs. Phillips live?
15) In which frigate, captained by Frederick Wentworth, had Richard Musgrove served?
16) In what capacity did Wickham’s father serve old Mr. Darcy?
As my own bonus question–which JA heroine do you think you most resemble? (A long time ago, I took a quiz on this topic, too. It was lots of fun, but alas now I can’t find it! The quiz said I’m most like Marianne Dashwood. So watch out if I take it into my head to give a dramatic reading at the Beau Monde soiree next summer!)
Since we’re talking about covers (though everyone will probably be sorry the topic was brought up, as I can talk about it pretty much forever!), and also cleavage (this woman has her share), I’ll go ahead and post my latest cover. Since it’s the newest, it’s also therefore my favorite, but I love it for the colors and the “headless character” image. I’m a sucker for those.
After all this talk about cleavage and highlights and strange outfits, I thought you might enjoy seeing this cover! The guy from “Grease” and the girl who buys her clothes at Victoria’s Secret. At least they read…
Unlike the GF couple, who spend all their time in the gaming hell. Tsk tsk.
So this weekend I was off with 3 writing friends on a retreat to an adorable Victorian cottage in Eureka Springs! (no pics at the moment–we spent most of the time wearing sweats and messy hair as we wrestled with our WIPs…). It was a wonderful time, with lots of work done and lots of wine on the big front porch in the evenings. I am in the middle of my newest project, the first in my Elizabethan-set mystery series (coming out from NAL next year!!), and this was a great way to get a few thousand words ahead. Plus it was fun!
So I started wondering if authors of the past did something like this. All I could remember was how in high school a friend of mine (another future English major) had an old, grainy VHS tape of a movie called Haunted Summer, about the time Byron and the Shelleys (and others) spent a few weeks together at Lake Geneva in Switzerland, where a dare on a rainy night gave birth to Frankenstein. This is what IMDB says about that movie:
In 1815, authors Lord Byron, Mary Shelley and Percy Shelley get together for some philosophical discussions, but the situation soon deteriorates into mind games, drugs and sex.
My own retreat was not nearly so interesting….
As I looked around this morning trying to find more info on this famous writing retreat, I found a great article from the NYTimes’ travel section–it’s really fascinating and makes me want to go to Lake Geneva right away: Lake Geneva as Byron and Shelley Knew It
Where would you want to go on retreat? What authors would you take with you?? (I think Byron and Shelley would be fun, but probably not so conducive to getting much work done! I might go with the Brontes…)