Believe it or not, I started this blog two years ago. I meant it to replace AustenBlog, because I wanted more freedom to blog about everything that interested me, not just Jane Austen, though I can’t imagine any blog I write not being heavily influenced by my love for Jane Austen’s work. However, I found myself unable to kill AustenBlog. I stood above it with my knife, ready to stab it through the heart, and couldn’t do the deed. If this were Shakespeare, I would come to an ugly end, but fortunately it’s just a blog. Continue reading
The Writing Life
The Holy Grail
I wrote this two years ago and never published it for some reason…it’s been hanging around in the drafts on this blog, which shows how long I have been dithering about with getting this blog off the ground! But it’s a funny story so I thought I would share. –MCS
John Scalzi has a post on his blog telling publishers to not take his innocuous comments about the “Big Idea” posts on his blog and make them book blurbs. The “Big Idea” posts are written by various authors to publicize their books, and Scalzi’s comments are just introductory in nature, not meant to be praise or censure; yet publishers are using them as blurb comments, because Scalzi’s a big name in science fiction (and I WILL praise one of his books, Redshirts–hilarious and touching, and you can blurb me on that) and a blurb from him is worth something, even when it’s essentially meaningless, I guess. It does strike one as a violation of Wheaton’s Law, of which one would expect a reader of Scalzi’s blog to be aware.
Turning innocuous comments or outright bad reviews into outstanding blurbs has a long and illustrious history
I wonder if his blog post will do him any good, because it seems to me a lot of folks at publishing houses (and authors, when they self-publish, or are forced to do their own marketing) tend to not read the instructions carefully. Besides, turning innocuous comments or outright bad reviews into outstanding blurbs has a long and illustrious history, especially on movie posters.
I had an experience in that direction myself. Continue reading
Quotable
“The hardest part of doing anything creatively is just getting up and doing.” – Frances Bean Cobain
Very perceptive from a 22-year-old!
via Frances Bean Cobain on Life After Kurt’s Death: An Exclusive Q&A | Rolling Stone.
Plotting Lady Susan
With Love and Friendship currently filming, I’ve been thinking a lot about the plot of Lady Susan, upon which, of course, the film is based, and how it would work in the film medium. I stress I have no idea how Whit Stillman, who I believe has written the adaptation, has decided to adapt the original; I am working completely with the original as Austen wrote it.
In case you haven’t read this novella yet (and why not? It’s quite short and enjoyable, and free to read if you have an e-reader, tablet, or smartphone), be aware I will be discussing the entire plot, so if a spoiler alert is needed, then: spoiler alert! Someone more or less familiar with the story will have an easier time following along. Continue reading
This Delightful Habit of Journaling 