BACKGROUND

 
I want to do this. I have tried and failed several times; given up because of not enough time…forgotten what I have written. Even forgotten the names of some of my characters! Oh what was the aunt’s name?

Perhaps my Blog should be the Challenge of the Part-time Middle-aged Writer. Admit it, after 45 or so, the memory blunts a bit. Not the sharpness! I went back to college at 45 and got straight A’s and a degree in Graphics Communications. It was wonderful to know I could keep up with the 19-year olds in my class. I was very tech-challenged at the time and they were great to help me with that. I like to think I repaid them by offering good wise insights in class discussions.

First, a brief history of my Austen fanship. I read Pride and Prejudice for the Leaving Certificate (the Irish State Exam taken in the last year of formal school) and while I liked it, I didn’t understand the long sentences. (still have trouble with that sometimes). Perhaps I am one of the ‘dull elves’ she talks of…but I digress…I drew Lizzy and Darcy all over the margins. Empire line gowns and knee-length breeches and all, which shows I knew the fashions of the time. My Darcy, I remember, was very skinny.

Fast forward to 1995 Pride and Prejudice. In August of that year, I became Mrs. Van Beethoven. My husband is a huge fan of the composer of that name. His real name is Liam Flannery and he is from Limerick, Ireland. That by the way is the same city that Tom Lefroy, Jane’s love, was from. His old home is now a Bank.

Liam lived in the USA, so I moved here in September after our August wedding. And as I was settling in, the 1995 Pride and Prejudice got it’s American debut on the Arts&Entertainment Network.  I was so excited; here was good old-fashioned familiar stuff from England. Liam joined me in watching it. (since then he has eased himself out of watching romantic movies with me, but as an English Lit fan, he did find P&P very enjoyable).

That Pride and Prejudice Adaptation got me very interested in JA, and I have since bought and read all the books, read Claire Tomalin’s biography; and seen all the adaptations that I could. And I love everything! I don’t want to leave the characters on the pages…I want their stories to go on…and so I am writing my first sequel – when I have Time.