Introducing The Summer of Jane Austen
A new endeavor for the next few months, with a Worthy Goal in mind.
In 2016, my best friend and I joined the Jane Austen Society of North America and attended that organization’s Annual General Meeting, a conference held over three days in a big hotel in Washington, D.C. Then, in a summary akin to that of a proposal at the end of an Austen novel, life happened. We both dated wonderful men, got engaged, then married. I had two children. She went back to school. I went back to school. She moved around the country. I stayed put in a nice little house in a suburb. Despite the miles between us, we kept in touch. We kept our love for our very favorite author. (That’s Jane Austen, in case you’re a dull elf who did not figure that out from the title of this piece or the subtitle or the header image or the contents of this paragraph.)
Now, eight years later, life is very different but we want to go to the JASNA AGM again. There is much to be planned — travel to arrange, childcare to arrange and rearrange, PTO to be taken, et cetera and so forth — but we want to make it happen. These last few years have contained a lot of joy, to be sure, but have also had their share of work and worry. (Let other pens dwell on guilt and misery; I quit these odious subjects as soon as I can.) An adventure together to a conference focusing on the writer we both love best seems a splendid way to reconnect, relax, and rekindle our literary efforts. (We both like to write, in case you hadn’t picked up on that on my part at least.)
The problem is that going to this conference costs several hundred dollars, and the travel and accommodations to make the trip happen will cost a good bit too. Sadly, neither of us have a fortune of ten thousand or even five thousand a year. My best friend and her husband are in the throes of graduate school and the costs associated with that worthy endeavor, and my husband and I have a mortgage and two small children who like to eat. We do not have much money to fund this trip, and sadly the Rollings Reliable Baking Powder Company has at the time of this writing STILL not reached out to offer me their financial support in exchange for sponsored melodrama. (That’s an allusion to a different author — L.M. Montgomery — for those playing along at home.)
What I do have, in abundance, is a plethora of opinions about Jane Austen’s novels. (What I do not have in great abundance is time but we’ll figure that one out as we go.) I have a Substack. (You Are Here.) I have an Internet connection. I have a laptop with a working keyboard. So I am going to write essays about Jane Austen to be published free, gratis, and for nothing right here on Something Funny, Something True. (Although I would be quite grateful if you chose to support this work by upgrading to a paid subscription for $5 per month, and I’ll insert a handy little button to do so right here. If you’re one of those who’s already done this, I’m extremely grateful.)
I am going to submit pieces to paying publications as well, and I am going to publish some of my Substack articles behind the paywall on Medium, and in so doing I hope to earn enough over the course of the summer to pay for the Annual General Meeting.
I hope you will join me.
This endeavor on my part requires nothing from you on your part except to read what I am putting before you now (excellent work thus far; thank you!) and, if you are feeling terribly generous, to share it on the social media platform of your choice. Engaging with my work as a free or a paid member helps to boost my visibility in the mysterious and somewhat spooky Algorithm that chooses whose writing gets read and whose is forgotten, and your likes and comments and subscribes really do mean a lot.
I shall return to this post as I publish each piece, and will link them all here as they are completed.
Good Novels and Intolerable Stupidity
New to Jane Austen? Here’s a Curated Reading List.
“Such I Was From One-and-Twenty to Nine-and-Twenty” (And Continue Still)
Jane Austen Refuses to Punch Down
In conclusion, I suppose I may butcher a quote from A Lady herself, and say that I write not for Fame, but only with a view to pecuniary Emolument.
I hope you receive—hem—Testimonials in many ways, and of many degrees of value, for your worthy endeavour, though—ha—one never is more pleased than with the—ahem—the particular Testimonial of remuneration for belletristic exertions. :)
The Rollings Reliable Baking Powder reference was perfect.