The Keep Calm Contest entries. :)

I am entering Miss Dashwood's "Keep Calm" Jane Austen poster contest! Here are my two entries:

I made them on an awesome Keep Calm Poster Generator! :) Yay for templates! ;) 

"A large income is the best recipe for happiness..."

Already this year I have gotten a good deal of reading done--most of which are books I have never read before. You must realize that is a triumph--I most often find my nose buried in books that are as dear and old and familiar to me as your most worn pair of jeans. But of top of the heap, right alongside another book I hope to review soon, was Jane Austen's Mansfield Park.
I picked it up with some misgivings...the name was not exactly gripping and from what I'd heard there was someone named Fanny (who I was deluded into thinking was the villainess) and some chap named Edmund. But my ever-faithful friend, Maryanna, implored me to read the book so we could gush over it afterward. We have a habit of gushing over books, she and I. And so I lugged home her 6-inch thick volume of Austen novels and preceded to begin Mansfield Park. It was nothing like I expected. Nothing at all. It was almost, in my opinion, not in the least like Jane Austen's normal books. And yet for all this, for all it's difference and fresh flavor, I loved it. I had not expected to love it. I had not even looked to love it.
As I thought about this review I wondered how I ought to encapsulate my thoughts on the subject and I decided that the best way would have to be to categorize. The first component of a good story is, of course, the characters.

Fanny Price is, in my opinion, on par with Amy Dorrit. She is sweet and unassuming, unselfish, and had a good head on her shoulders. Some have complained, as austen.com says,

"She is shy, timid, lacking in self-confidence, physically weak, and seemingly—to some, annoyingly—always right. Austen's own mother called her "insipid", and many have used the word "priggish". She is certainly not like the lively and witty Elizabeth Bennet of Pride and Prejudice."

 And yet for all those things, one can't help liking Fanny for it. Actually, when I think of the heroines in iterature vs. the girls I know in real life, not many of them have as much sparkling, toothed wit as Lizzy, nor the stunning beauty and social position of Emma Woodhouse, nor the impeachable good sense and responsibility of Elinor Dashwood. Fanny Price is a real girl--very sweet, very good, but not without her original, interesting side. I found myself examining my own heart and wondering if I was rather more like Mary Crawford than Fanny Price...I really did begin to think about it. And when a character influences you in such a way that you being to really think, you know they're good.

This, naturally, brings me to the point of the Crawfords. Henry and Mary Crawford...where do I start. Well, first off with a confession. In Mary Crawford (toward the beginning of the book) I saw a deal of myself in my flesh. A girl who likes attention, who knows her good points, who likes a witty banter, and who loves to laugh above all else. She is not bad, she is not even unkind. She is just self-absorbed. And we all must cringe at her dissertation of the clergy:

"Never is a black word. But yes, in the never of conversation, which means not very often, I do think it. For what is to be done in the church? Men love to distinguish themselves, and in either of the other lines, distinction may be gained, but not in the church. A clergyman is nothing." -Mansfield Park chptr. 9

Had Miss Crawford been raised in different family I think she should have turned out quite well. And then we have Henry. I will say as little of him as possible, for he torments me. That a man with so many amiable qualities, such a merry spirit, such cleverness and fondness should turn out so ill makes me weep. I actually liked him after he **SPOILER ALERT** fell in love with Fanny and I was really quite convinced he'd reformed until he ran off with Maria Rushworth. **END OF SPOILER ALERT**
The last character that requires mentioning here is, of course, Edmund Bertram. He was a good sort of fellow--not dashing, not clever, very blind, but kind and steady and I did grow fond of him. He was just the sort of husband Fanny needed, only I wish he hadn't been so enamored and blinded by Miss Crawford. Really, men do believe the silliest things about women they love.

The next category would be plot strength. The plot of M.P. ambled along rather than dashed, unlike Austen's other novels. And yet the style of the writing lent such an intimacy to the characters that I felt I grew to know them better than I had ever known any of Austen's other people. There are no broad impressions here--there are little sensibilities and--much to my girlish delight--there is at least one whole chapter devoted to Fanny getting ready for a ball! I glory in such details:

"The ball too—such an evening of pleasure before her! It was now a real animation! and she began to dress for it with much of the happy flutter which belongs to a ball. All went well—she did not dislike her own looks; and when she came to the necklaces again, her good fortune seemed complete, for upon trial the one given her by Miss Crawford would by no means go through the ring of the cross." Chapter 27

I loved the treat of hearing Austen's style in this manner--it is really a one-of-a-kind chance.

The third and last category I wanted to address is morality. I was extremely impressed with the  values held by Fanny, by Edmund, and by Sir Thomas Bertram. Even more so than her other novels, Jane Austen defended the family, the church, purity, and modesty in Mansfield Park. It has a more serious tone than the playful, whimsical Emma. It has less wit than Pride and Prejudice, and it is not as dramatic as Sense and Sensibility. And yet I would argue that this book is seriously undervalued. Open it up, read it, and lose yourself in a story of love and constancy. I promise your time will not be wasted.

"With such a regard for her, indeed, as his had long been, a regard founded on the most endearing claims of innocence and helplessness, and completed by every recommendation of growing worth, what could be more natural than the change? Loving, guiding, protecting her, as he had been doing ever since her being ten years old, her mind in so great a degree formed by his care, and her comfort depending on his kindness, an object to him of such close and peculiar interest, dearer by all his own importance with her than any one else at Mansfield, what was there now to add, but that he should learn to prefer soft light eyes to sparkling dark ones.—And being always with her, and always talking confidentially, and his feelings exactly in that favourable state which a recent disappointment gives, those soft light eyes could not be very long in obtaining the pre-eminence." Mansfield Park chptr. 48

Quotables: Sense and Sensibility

Firstly, I wanted to remind everyone to hurry hurry hurry and finish scribbling your entries and send them to me! You have until February 14th at 11:59 p.m. to enter the "Heigh-Ho for a Husband" contest! (Only 3 days!!!) Also, finish up entering the giveaway! You only have till Feb. 12th at 11:59 P.M. for that one. Details for both can be found on the sidebar of this blog! Also, please let me know how you are liking this blog party--I know I've been having fun but I want to hear from you. :)
It would be untoward, unfeeling, un-filial and practically unchristian to miss posting excerpts from Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility during this blog party! Thus, I chose one of my favorite (and one of the funniest and most telling scenes, in my opinion) to share with you! :)

         " 'He admires as a lover, not as a connoisseur. To satisfy me, those characters must be united. I could not be happy with a man whose taste did not in every point coincide with my own. He must enter into all my feelings: the same books, the same music must charm us both. Oh, mamma, how spiritless, how tame was Edward's manner in reading to us last night! I felt for my sister more severely. Yet she bore it with so much composure, she seemed scarcely to notice it. I could hardly keep my seat. To hear those beautiful lines which have frequently almost driven me wild, pronounced with such impenetrable calmness, such dreadful indifference!'

         'He would certainly have done more justice to simple and elegant prose. I thought so at the time; but you would give him Cowper.'

         'Nay, mamma, if he is not to be animated by Cowper!- but we must allow for difference of taste. Elinor has not my feelings, and, therefore, she may overlook it, and be happy with him. But it would have broken my heart, had I loved him, to hear him read with so little sensibility. Mamma, the more I know of the world, the more am I convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love. I require so much! He must have all Edward's virtues, and his person and manners must ornament his goodness with every possible charm.'

       'Remember, my love, that you are not seventeen. It is yet too early in life to despair of such a happiness.'" -Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Quotables--Mansfield Park

I just finished reading Mansfield Park by Jane Austen and truly, I loved it. Not in the way I love some of her other novels--indeed, the style hardly felt like Austen's in some parts. It gave a more intimate acquaintance with the heroine and many of the characters, and it was thought-provoking. I am ashamed to admit it but here and there in the beginning of the story I recognized some of my weak points in Mary Crawford....perish the thought. :P I was inspired by Fanny, vexed but in love with Edmund, and disappointed, gravely, by Henry Crawford who had won me over in his "faithful" love for Fanny....but all details aside, I soon realized that this book contained some of her most famous quotes, and as so many of them match my theme for this blog party, I thought I'd ferret them out and share them with you. :)

"Silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way." -Jane Austen

"A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of." -Jane Austen

"I cannot think well of a man who sports with any woman's feelings; there may often be a great deal more suffered than a stander-by can judge of." -Jane Austen

"Nothing amuses me more than the easy manner with which everybody settles the abundance of those who have a great deal less than themselves." -Jane Austen

"But there certainly are not so many men of large fortune in the world as there are pretty women to deserve them." -Jane Austen (love love love love this one. So. True.)

“I pay very little regard…to what any young person says on the subject of marriage.  If they profess a disinclination for it, I only set it down that they have not yet seen the right person.”-Jane Austen

"Good-humoured, unaffected girls, will not do for a man who has been used to sensible women. They are two distinct orders of being." -Jane Austen

“The enthusiasm of a woman’s love is even beyond the biographer’s.” -Jane Austen 

"A lady's imagination is very rapid;"

I could not resist sending an inquiry to Mr. Darcy about our party's subject. 

**** 

"Your conjecture is totally wrong, I assure you. My mind was more agreeably engaged. I have been meditating on the very great pleasure which a pair of fine eyes in the face of a pretty woman can bestow."

Miss Bingley immediately fixed her eyes on his face, and desired he would tell her what lady had the credit of inspiring such reflections. Mr. Darcy replied with great intrepidity,

"Miss Elizabeth Bennet."

"Miss Elizabeth Bennet!" repeated Miss Bingley. "I am all astonishment. How long has she been such a favourite? -- and pray when am I to wish you joy?"

"That is exactly the question which I expected you to ask. A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony, in a moment. I knew you would be wishing me joy."

~Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen

"A single woman, of good fortune, is always respectable."

           When I happened to ask Miss Woodhouse what she thought of Old-maids, Valentine's Day, and being unmarried, this is what she gave me. :)

 "I do so wonder, Miss Woodhouse, that you should not be married, or going to be married! so charming as you are!"--

             Emma laughed, and replied, "My being charming, Harriet, is not quite enough to induce me to marry; I must find other people charming--one other person at least. And I am not only, not going to be married, at present, but have very little intention of ever marrying at all."

              "Ah!--so you say; but I cannot believe it."

               "I must see somebody very superior to any one I have seen yet, to be tempted; Mr. Elton, you know, (recollecting herself,) is out of the question: and I do not wish to see any such person. I would rather not be tempted. I cannot really change for the better. If I were to marry, I must expect to repent it."

               "Dear me!--it is so odd to hear a woman talk so!"--

                "I have none of the usual inducements of women to marry. Were I to fall in love, indeed, it would be a different thing! but I never have been in love; it is not my way, or my nature; and I do not think I ever shall. And, without love, I am sure I should be a fool to change such a situation as mine. Fortune I do not want; employment I do not want; consequence I do not want: I believe few married women are half as much mistress of their husband's house as I am of Hartfield; and never, never could I expect to be so truly beloved and important; so always first and always right in any man's eyes as I am in my father's."

             "But then, to be an old maid at last, like Miss Bates!"

              "That is as formidable an image as you could present, Harriet; and if I thought I should ever be like Miss Bates! so silly--so satisfied-- so smiling--so prosing--so undistinguishing and unfastidious-- and so apt to tell every thing relative to every body about me, I would marry to-morrow. But between us, I am convinced there never can be any likeness, except in being unmarried."

                "But still, you will be an old maid! and that's so dreadful!"

                 "Never mind, Harriet, I shall not be a poor old maid; and it is poverty only which makes celibacy contemptible to a generous public! A single woman, with a very narrow income, must be a ridiculous, disagreeable old maid! the proper sport of boys and girls, but a single woman, of good fortune, is always respectable, and may be as sensible and pleasant as any body else." 

                                                       ~Emma by Jane Austen

Letters to Miss Austen

These are my entries for Miss Dashwood's contest for birthday-cards and letters to Miss Jane Austen. :)

My dearest Miss Austen,
      La, but I'm fagged! I was up dancing all last night at the Officer's Ball and Wickham spilled his punch all over my gown and spoilt it. (The gown, not the punch--well, both. La, what a goose I am!) I'm afraid he isn't half as agreeable as you said he'd be when you married me off to him, though he is horridly handsome. But here I am babbling on so when I picked up my pen to write you a Happy Birthday. (Though it seems to me you might be happier if you were married as well. If you only came to visit me, Miss Austen, I could introduce you to all the officers--ahhmmmm!) I trust we can count on you to host a ball to celebrate the day? And make sure that the fabled Mr. Churchill sees to the music. [I've never met him, of course, but I hear you wrote him up as a fine rogue! How I wish I could see him.] We simply can't let Mary play--she'd be bound to play concertos when we want something we could dance to like a jig or a reel and--oh crumbs! Why, I haven't chosen my gown for the dance tomorrow--what rot it is being married to a man who can't supply you with an allowance because he spends it all on cards. I find I haven't had a new gown since September! Really, Miss Austen, I'd think you'd be wiser than to set me up with him. Ah well. Que Sera, Sera and all that sort of thing the French say. (Or was it the Italian?) No matter. My hand is so cramped from writing this card I had better stop at once with one more wish for you to have a pleasant ball--I mean, birthday.
                     Your dearest friend,
                                        Lydia Wickham. (La, how droll that sounds!)


My dear Madam,
      I would not be a gentleman if I did not wish you a very felicitous birthday--and I do, most heartily--though I can't seem to understand what the women find so pleasant in reading the mail. Especially letters of friendship--they seldom bring any money at all. I hear rumours that you are having a small evening party? I hope it does not snow, for your sake. It is my opinion that it looks very much like snow, and you know how unpleasant it is to be snow-bound in another's house for any length of time.
But as I have taken up my pen against scruples over the mail, I must beg an answer from you for a question that has plagued my mind for some time--how to convince my father-in-law that I don't wish to hear at every mealtime how unhealthy my habits are? If it is not the food he is sighing over, it's the place I take my family on holiday, and if it isn't where I take my family on holiday it is the cut of my coat. George, my brother, seems to be able to not only tolerate him, but likes him. Mr. Woodhouse is, I daresay, a good man and a generous one. But he never extends the generosity to me in the manner of which I'd savor it: In a good dose of silence.
Once more, I wish you a happy and enjoyable birthday, and I trust my sending a letter in the mail will not distress you any more than I hear they distress Miss Fairfax. Now I must beg your leave and go attend to guarding the chickens.
                        I am yours &c,
                                     John Knightley

A Bit of Wool-gathering ;)

When ideas float in our mind without any reflection or regard of the understanding, it is that which the French call revery, our language has scarce a name for it.  ~John Locke

I am discovering that my pen, like an artist's brush, is limited in the things it can portray. It is my firm belief that there are some things that are so achingly beautiful they cannot be put into words. There are some emotions and sensations that are entirely unwriteable, even to the best of authors. There are some things that--were it even possible--should not be put into words for fear we'd break their fragile existence. I speak out of experience--Have you ever looked upon something so gorgeous it hurt, and then tried to capture the moment in words, only to find at the end that you have put something down on paper that is but a shadow of reality, and yet the reality has conformed to the words on the page and in your memory it hangs there, but a dim reflection of what Had Been? Sometimes we try too hard to describe the indescribable. There are some thoughts that are better left "void and without form" because they are too young and tender to be real thoughts yet. I have some of those reeling around my head right now, and yet I dare not even try to write them formally, even in my journal, lest they become something quite different than they are.
Even this post seems ridiculous and abstract and not exactly what one might call Coherent. I guess there are some things that must be felt, not understood. This might be one of them. Just don't try too hard to ferret out the whys and wherefores thereof. As Matthew Cuthbert said, "Keep a little room for romance, Anne." There's no fun in knowing everything, nor in being so all-powerful with your pen that there are no secrets too grand for your comprehension. Where would be the joy in that? We'd all be stuffy know-it-alls with nothing to think or say that hadn't been thought or said yesterday. And there I go with a Mr. John Knightley quote. I'd better end here before I get any more rambly. Happy Daydreaming! :)

Come Gawk At The Prizes! :)

It is the time you have been waiting for... the revealing of the prizes you girls (or guys :P) may win in the Merry Auld England Writing Challenge!!! Now, I still only have one entry, and I *know* you can give me more than that. I hope these fabulous (if I do say so myself) prizes will egg you on to entering if nothing else will! :D

The winner of the Prose Category (short story, sketch, essay, etc.) will receive this beautiful set of tea-stained, hand-illustrated Jane Austen stationary! (contains 6 8x11 sheets of stationary and 3 antiqued envelopes)

 

Perfect for writing an elegant letter to a friend with plenty of space for rambling.

(tiny pages of stationary are a pet-peeve of mine, since I tend to write long letters.)

 

A close-up of the decoration in the corner...and guess what?

It's an original design, and that *is* a glimpse of my handwriting! :P

 

I can read your mind...you want this stationary...you want it badly...so enter the contest! :D

The winner of the Poetry Category wins: A hand-decorated, hand-covered box in a dusty-raspberry color--perfect for hiding away your treasures of poetry, or any other such keepsake. 

  

Isn't it a beauty? I had half a mind to keep it myself, but I thought I'd be generous and put it up as a prize. You'll love it, I know. :)

 

A close-up of the decorations on the lid. Admit it--you love it. ;)

 

And the inside of the box, painted a lover-ly silver. 

And last but not least, the winner of the Drama Category (a play, dialog, skit, etc.) will receive: 

Miss Egglantine Benedict

 

She is a paper-weight, and a companion for your writing corner. I give you full leave to talk to her, and to reprimand her as needed--that smug expression was not painted on there to forebode a quiet personality. ;)

Some of you expressed interest in seeing me as Rosie Cotton--these are not the best pictures, as I wasn't wearing my rose-bud wreath in my hair, nor was I outside as a proper hobbitess should be. But here's the general idea. When my cousin sends me the other pictures, I might post those too. :)

 

Sorry about the lighting...By the by, I made my vest and my skirt, I was given the apron, and the blouse came from a Goodwill--gotta love do-it-yourself! :D

 

I think I make rather a wonderful hobbit--I have the right shape for it. ;)

 

Anyway, there are those pictures for now, so you can get a general idea of what I looked like. I'll get some better ones for you before too long! And, as my little sister would say, "Pretty please with sugars and berries and icecream" enter the contest to win one of these awesome prizes?! Thanks a million! ~Rachel

A Dose of Jane

Jane Austen never ceases to amaze me. I had forgotten just how much I enjoyed Northanger Abbey until I opened my copy last week and happened across this treasure trove: 

"I will not adopt that ungenerous and impolitic custom so common with novel-writers, of degrading by their contemptuous censure the very performances, to the number of which they are themselves adding--joining with their greatest enemies in bestowing the harshest epithets on such works, and scarcely ever permitting them to be read by their own heroine, who, if she accidentally take up a novel, is sure to turn over its insipid pages with disgust. Alas! If the heroine of one novel be not patronized by the heroine of another, from whom can she expect protection and regard? I cannot approve of it. Let us leave it to the reviewers to abuse such effusions of fancy at their leisure, and over every new novel to talk in threadbare strains of the trash with which the press now groans. Let us not desert one another; we are an injured body. Although our productions have afforded more extensive and unaffected pleasure than those of any other literary corporation in the world, no species of composition has been so much decried. From pride, ignorance, or fashion, our foes are almost as many as our readers. And while the abilities of the nine-hundredth abridger of the History of England, or of the man who collects and publishes in a volume some dozen lines of Milton, Pope, and Prior, with a paper from the Spectator, and a chapter from Sterne, are eulogized by a thousand pens--there seems almost a general wish of decrying the capacity and undervaluing the labour of the novelist, and of slighting the performances which have only genius, wit, and taste to recommend them. "I am no novel-reader--I seldom look into novels--Do not imagine that I often read novels--It is really very well for a novel." Such is the common cant. "And what are you reading, Miss--?" "Oh! It is only a novel!" replies the young lady, while she lays down her book with affected indifference, or momentary shame. "It is only Cecilia, or Camilla, or Belinda"; or, in short, only some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour, are conveyed to the world in the best-chosen language. Now, had the same young lady been engaged with a volume of the Spectator, instead of such a work, how proudly would she have produced the book, and told its name; though the chances must be against her being occupied by any part of that voluminous publication, of which either the matter or manner would not disgust a young person of taste: the substance of its papers so often consisting in the statement of improbable circumstances, unnatural characters, and topics of conversation which no longer concern anyone living; and their language, too, frequently so coarse as to give no very favourable idea of the age that could endure it.

Bwahaha! You cannot help up laugh at the caricature, especially if you are familiar with some of the ideas of novels held in the old classic books. Even I am guilty of saying, with an abashed expression on my face, "Oh, it's only such-and-such a one."

What is it that brings up such feelings of bashfulness? First off, I must explain that the general concept of a "novel" in most classic books of fiction refer to a thriller-novel. The blood and gore, scandal and intrigue that peppered the sensational books of the day. The sort of the book Jo March of Little Women tried her hand at and the sort Proff. Bhaer disapproved of. They were generally what I call "fluffery"...the equivalent of those horrid 25-cent romances you can (but hopefully never will) buy at the thrift store. The kind that are written in mass droves and you'd be ashamed to be caught dead in the middle of.
Now moving on, the type of book Jane Austen was referring to was obviously the right sort of novel...like her own. :) Books that shape and mold you for good. I appreciate this quote:
It is what you read when you don't have to that determines what you will be when you can't help it.  ~Oscar Wilde
It is entirely true. The books you turn to in your free time really are the books that will effect you. That's why it's so important that we take Benjamin Franklin's advice and "write things worth reading and read things worth writing." To a writer it's all connected. The things we read influence our writing which is something someone else will read that may influence their writing and so on.
It's rather a grave responsibility, if you want to get philosophical about it. :) But that is why I feel that my first task as a writer is to pledge to write and read only the best of literature. The world has enough fluffery, enough sensationalism, enough dime novels...it is hungering for something worthwhile.
My goal is, and has long been, to write good literature that reflects the beauty of Christ and points others to Him. I am determined to be one author that stands above the sea of other scribblers because I have, with God's grace written: "Some work in which the greatest powers of the mind are displayed, in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour, are conveyed to the world in the best-chosen language."
  I have not arrived at that point yet, I know. I cannot by any means claim that I have achieved my goal, but hopefully, in good time, I will be nearer it. :) I hope you enjoyed this post, or at least that it challenged you to think on the topic of good vs. best.
                                                   ~Rachel

A New Contest Here At the Inkpen Authoress!!!

(Not my picture. All photos in this post courtesy of Google images. :)

I am very pleased to announce the newest contest here on the Inkpen Authoress! :) Everyone, meet The Merry Auld England Writing Challenge! :)

As you all know, I am a great lover of English literature: everything Dickens, everything Austen, everything Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, everything Gaskell, everything Bronte! And my list goes on. :) England itself is a country full of magnificent literary potential. From deep forests for sunny countryside, from the coasts of Devon to the wild moors of the North, there are so many wonderful settings! So I thought, my darling readers, why not concoct a brilliant contest to celebrate this amazing country and it's legion of priceless books?! And so I did. :)

Here are the rules:

1.) Be clever, beautiful, and accomplished with your words. One of the great charms of English literature is its careful wordcrafting. :) So open up your mind and pen to the ornate thoughts and interesting words lying stale in the corners. This is a time to shine and show your love for truly great writing! :)

2.) Choose a subject that has to do with England! You could spin a tale about Bath, or a romance set in the wild of the Northlands. You could write a new story about Robin Hood and his merry men, or compose your own ending for Mrs. Gaskell's unfinished Wives and Daughters. (NOT if you've seen the BBC movie, though! ;D) You could scribble an amusing tale in the style of Dickens, or a witty story about Society people in the manner of Jane Austen. You could write a Tolkien-ish poem, or take after Tennyson and do a dramatic romance. For pity's sake, you could even astonish the world and try your hand as Shakespearing! :D The possibilities are endless!

3.) You may write your entry as a poem, a short story, or a play. Please refrain from using any bad language, crude humor, or improper views of God in your submission, as these will immediately be disqualified, however lovely the writing.

Send all submissions to inkpencontestsubmissions@gmail.com. Each participant may enter one submission into each category. :)

4.) The Prizes? (Yes, I said prizes :) I will choose one winner from each category: Poetry, Prose, and Drama. (as in a play, if I even get any entries there :) The prizes are yet to be announced, but each winner will get their work of literature published on my blog in addition to the prize. Glory! Glory! ;) After the contest all rights will revert to the author, and I promise not to change anything in the wording of the entries, scalp them of their titles, or in any other way pirate your work. :D

5.) In order to be eligible for this contest you must:

Follow this blog (I would love new followers! *sweet hopeful smile* :)

Love literature with a passion

Post about this contest on your blog or on Facebook, Twitter, or anywhere else you haunt. (Excepting, of course, those girls of you who do none of the above, in which case you're Scot-free)

And, of course, get your entry to me by September 9th, 2011! :) (That gives you girls a month to enter. I'll write up a little reminder gadget and put it up near the top of the blog in case your forget. :P)

*****THE CONTEST CLOSING DATE HAS BEEN MOVED FORWARD TO SEPTEMBER 23, 2011******

So pens ready? On your mark, get set, be brilliant!!! My pen salutes your own. I hope many many writers enter this contest! It'll be great! I will make a button for the contest at some point, so stay tuned for that. :) Thanks so much for entering! ~Rachel

A Silly Wish of Mine :)

Oh mercy on us. This is a day in which I could clasp my hands, rise dramatically from the sofa, give a faint groan, and fall down in a swoon over my great longing for something.

What is that something?

To have a discussion with Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and C.S. Lewis.

To ask them all the questions running around my mind.

Things like, "Were you satisfied with your writing or did you think there were problems in it?"

"Did you know you were writing something brilliant?"

"And you could you please, very gently, read my writing and tell me what you think of it?"

And then I'd blush, and not be able to look at them, and they'd take my poor little book in their hands.

Jane Austen would let her "fine eyes" twinkle at my earnestness, and she'd make a witty remark or two, never letting on what her true opinion was.

Charles Dickens would turn the pages with a languid hand, then stare at me intensely for a full moment, contemplating how he could turn me into a character for one of his novels.

C.S. Lewis, the darling, would be a true gentleman and deal with me kindly, a gentle smiling creeping across his face. He'd fiddle with his pipe, clear his throat, and smile.

And there I'd sit, wishing I had never wished the moment into existence, and I suppose before too long they'd answer all my questions. I don't know why I felt the urge to go off on this tangent of my imagination, but there it is. :)

Do you ever have such an ache to meet these Greats? And all the while knowing you'd be scared silly and make a terrible impression of yourself on them because you were so nervous? :P

But truly, I wonder. Do people destined for literary success ever know it beforehand? Or do they follow many another great person and never have an inkling of what they're starting? I just wonder...and then I smile at how silly I am. :)

Vexing Inspiration :)

There is a certain phenomenon that I have noticed recently. And that is simply this:

That when I am the most pinched for time and haven't a spare moment to devote to writing even if it's the thing I long to do most, inspiration suddenly flies at me and knocks me over. ;)

Much to my sister, Sarah's chagrin, I am terrible about beginning one story and then getting inspired for another and leaving the one in a dubious state of completion while chasing the other.

But she's not a writer and she can't understand the elusive joy that comes when The Idea pops into your brain and taps you on the shoulder with a "catch me if you can" smile on its face. And I usually end up going back and finishing the first story....*after* I've done with the second. ;)

I know I'm not the only one with this problem. I've heard that Sir Walter Scott always worked on two novels at once. He placed them on separate desks and stood between the two pacing up and down. When he got an idea he'd dash to either manuscript and scribble as fast as he could.

I'm not *that* bad....or at least I don't think I am.... ;)

Puddleby Lane was coming along splendidly, but then life got to be a whirlwind of weeds and vegetables, wisdom-teeth and graduation speeches and I had to lay it aside in lieu of other more prosaic realities. That was fine in itself, except that somehow Inspiration decided to commandeer my attention and I have had the hardest time imaginable trying to ignore this perfectly amazing plot that is tumbling around my mind. Puddleby Lane is a good story and *will* be finished. I think I don't think it would be fair to poor Cora Lesley to just leave her hanging and dash off to the French Revolution. :D

So this brings me to the second random musing in my writers' brain. (As a note: I may seem to flit about from one subject to another like a distracted butterfly but I think that it's all the fault of being a writer....we all understand each other....right?)

The second random musing is......

Keep a Writing-Inspiration Notebook....I'm *going* to think of a clever name for mine.

But in this book of secrets, I pledge to write all the plot ideas, character sketches, descriptions, and everything else that floats past my Writer's Radar in this book to be pulled out, dusted off, and hung up to shine in a future day. I've done this loosely but never in an organized format...but I really think it's a good idea. What do you think?

Oh yes. And I can't forget the third and final thought I've been discussing in my head. And that is the frustrating longing to be a *great* writer like Dickens and Austen...my pen is clumsy at times and won't behave how I want it to.

But I will write all the same and I *know* practice makes perfect. Even if I never do end up a truly great writer, let it never be said of me that I stopped trying. :)

Simple things cheer me up...things like one of my favorite graduation gifts I got. The brother of one of my friends wood-burned me a sign that is destined to hang over my writing corner whenever I make it. It's a simple, wooden sign, but it made me smile with its two words:

Author's Study

Somehow that made me feel officially an authoress....that and graduating. ;) It's so funny how someone simply acknowledging your passion makes it real. Wasn't that a thoughtful gift? :)

Tomorrow I'll post my graduation speech for your observation. :) ~Rachel

Found at Last in the 1578 Pages :)

Here are some of my favorite quotes I have found in my quote book! Some are funny and completely random, others are thoughtful, others clever. Tell me which is your favorite! :)

"What would have become of us had it pleased Providence to make the weather unchangeable? Think of the state of destitution of the morning callers." -Sydney Smith

"Madam, I have been looking for a person who disliked gravy all my life; let us swear eternal friendship." -Ibid.

"Marriage resembles a pair of shears, so joined that they can not be separated; often moving in opposite directions, yet always punishing anyone who comes between them." ;) Ibid.

"No on minds what Jeffrey says: .. it is not more than a week ago that I heard him speak disrespectfully of the equator." -Ibid.

"Not the poem which we have read, but that to which we return, with the greatest pleasure, possesses the genuine power, and claims the name of essential poetry." -Samuel Taylor Coleridge

"Miss Blachford is agreeable enough. I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal." -Jane Austen

"What dreadful hot weather we have! It keeps me in a continual state of inelegance." -Ibid.

"Not many sounds in life, and I include all urban and rural sounds, exceed in interest a knock at the door." -Charles Lamb

"Put your trust in God, my boys, and keep your powder dry!" -Col. Valentine Blacker

"What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value." -Thomas Paine

"Her blue eyes sough the west afar,
For lovers love the western star." -Sir Walter Scott

"Meat eaten without either mirth or music is ill of digestion." -Ibid.

"[Miss Austen] had a talent for describing the involvements and feelings and characters of ordinary life which is to me the most wonderful I ever met with. The Big Bow-wow strain I can do myself like any now going; but the exquisite touch which renders ordinary, commonplace things and characters interesting, from the truth of the description and sentiment is denied to me." - Ibid.

What is Your Purpose In Writing?

" Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery. I quit such odious subjects as soon as I can, impatient to restore everybody, not greatly at fault themselves, to tolerable comfort, and to have done with all the rest."~Jane Austen

The above quote basically encapsulates my style of writing. All my favorite books are ones that inspired me, encouraged me, and made me forget my own problems and my own trials in a beautifully woven story. I am a cheerful, merry-hearted person most of the time. I read for enjoyment. And I don't know about you, but I don't enjoy reading books about dark, scary, depressing, or miserable lives. True, a dangerous scene has amazing potential for turning a dull book into something extraordinary, but I prefer real dangers like historical battles or other such things. I just can't make myself like the books dealing with murder or abuse or guilt or misery. Well, I should correct that statement. Some books, especially ones by people like Charles Dickens, do have dark scenes. They do deal with misery and guilt and things like that. But they don't stay there and wallow in it. The characters move on and their issues are dealt with.
I am not saying that I like "prunes and prisms" books. Far from it. Pollyanna irritates the Dickens out of me! (No pun intended ;) I did not ever connect with Elsie Dinsmore. These books are not bad and it's not as though they are not well-written.
The popular, modern style of writing is to choose a tormented person as the protagonist (main character) and dwell in their disturbed mind and lives for as long as possible, and then dump you at the end of the book with a highly disturbing ending.
Okay. So I am stereotyping, and I haven't personally read anything like that, but I have read snippets of "great novels" in my writing book, and that is the general idea of the modern novel, as far as I've been able to tell.
I gather that the thinking behind this is to give readers a character they can relate to. And I can only scratch my head. Really? Because I wasn't under the impression that prisoners were the main source of avid readers in society. Maybe I'm wrong. They probably have a lot of time on their hands and would appreciate new stories.
But in all seriousness. Is it really worth "relating" to a character to spend hours reading a dark, depressing book? I cannot think that is profitable. Of course, my life has been "easy" compared to many people's. I have been homeschooled, and raised in a distinctly Christ-loving home. I have both my parents, and a passel of brothers and sisters. :) I live out in the countryside, surrounded by my loving family. And so I cannot relate to the popular main characters in modern fiction. I don't understand their depression and tormented minds. It isn't pleasant to read, and it isn't uplifting to read, and there I stand.
In short, guess each author writes for a different purpose. My purpose is to convey my love of literature in a new and wholesome way to my readers. In a way that honors God's standards. In fact, Jane Austen's words fit my style pretty well.
Think all the classic books known and loved by children for generations. Think stories that stick in your mind for decades. That's what I seek to write, because that is what I love. So in closing, I'd just like to encourage each of you as writers to settle on your purpose for writing. Mine was said largely by a beloved author of over a hundred years ago:
" Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery. I quit such odious subjects as soon as I can, impatient to restore everybody, not greatly at fault themselves, to tolerable comfort, and to have done with all the rest."~Jane Austen