Two years ago I reread Persuasion (for maybe the 10th time), then Pride & Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, Sense & Sensibility, and Northanger Abby. Then I read them all again. And again. I then turned to her Juvenalia, Lady Susan, and the incomplete novels The Watson's and Sanditon. I had suddenly morphed from a diversified reader with a great liking for Austen into a completely insatiable addict. I needed more. I found a completed version of Sanditon (by "Another Lady") and loved it. Give me more!! Ever since high school, having declared myself a literati, I had barely read outside of the canon but now I began to comb book stores and web sites for Jane Austen sequels and spin-offs. Like a crack head I did things I was ashamed to admit. I read horribly intimate accounts of Elizabeth Bennet & Fitzwilliam Darcy's life after marriage (wouldn't Jane be appalled!). Anything with an Austen influence I devoured, sometimes with satisfaction but more often with dismay. The time came for me to write my own, within my own parameters and according to my own sensibilities. Now that project is complete.
I intend this blog to be a place for me to record my thoughts on all things Austen but primarily my own experience trying to get my work read. I tried to get Wytherngate Press (publisher of the Fitzwillian Darcy, Gentleman and Fredrick Wentworth, Captain books - both of which are quite good) to read my book but never received a response. It's too short for most publisher's submission guidelines and I have little interest in procuring an agent so I'm thinking strongly of self publishing. Most of the fan fiction novels I have read were initially self-published and have since been picked up by Sourcebooks (who seems to monopolize Austen fan fic). This would be my ultimate goal. Come back to learn more about my publishing efforts and my book, First Impressions: A Tale of Less Pride & Prejudice.
Good luck!
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