The Next Big Thing

So I've been tagged to do this blog hopping thing by a new writing pal, Katie. I'm somewhat qualified to participate as I am a writer and I do have a few stories in my head that would be fun to talk about with people other than myself. There are two Works in Progress (WIP) that are battling for my attention.

1. What is the working title of your book?
- Thanks to my witty husband, I'm calling it Premarital Existence.
- Blaming Jane

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?
- The first one came to me as a junior in high school. I think I was looking for YA literature and wasn't really finding it.
- Blaming Jane came from my sister when we discovered that Jane Austen is a distant cousin related to us through marriage. (Pretty cool huh?)

3. What genre does your book fall under?
- Probably YA but could fall possibly under the NA tent.
- Memoir probably but I think it might better fit as a play.

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
- This is a toughie...I would want some young-ish characters since they are in their first or third years of college. This guy could do. Maybe slightly longer hair. Don't ask me who is, this is what Google, cooked up for me.

I've been told, you write what you know, and I know blond hair, blue-eyed girls very well. I think Julianne Hough could play my heroine in a movie. After all, she is starting to appear more and more on the silver screen. I think this picture really captures the down-to-earth girl I've imagined and I think these two could make a cute and believable couple.

As for the other MS (manuscript) I cannot picture anyone else playing me but me. Ha!


5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
- It's hard to find yourself while you're trying to find Mr. Right.
- A modern-day "Little Women" family with all of the problems of Jane Austen characters.

6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
- I don't think I would ever self-publish. I hear it's difficult and writing a book has been a challenge enough.
- I think this book/memoir would be really interesting to an agency, since there are genealogical ties.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
- Since it's first inception in 2001, I think I'm still working on my first draft. I have a difficult time finishing anything, probably because I don't always see the ending.
- Right now it's a just an idea with a few thoughts jotted down.

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
- What the Doctor Ordered by Janette Rallison
- I haven't read it yet but Jane Austen Ruined My Life by Beth Pattillo sounds like it could be very similar.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?
- I think the number of books appropriate for me at age seventeen were few and far between so I decided to write one that I figured other seventeen year olds would want to read.
- My sister inspired me to write Blaming Jane because of our genealogical connection and the fact that when upon inspection our lives do resemble those of her characters.

10. What else about your book might pique your readers' interest?
- There's possibility for a sequel
- It's kind of a tell-all about living under the shadow of wealth.



Check out some other writers my friend Katie also tagged to post today...

Darci Cole
Ryan Dalton
Trisha Schmidt

Okay this is so not fair, all of these writers have author-y sounding names already. Probably because they already are.


Happy reading!

~ Lady Jane

Unfinished

I've realized something about myself as a writer: I never finish a project I start. There's always something impeding me from the task, whether it's life or another writing project that appears to be more promising. With that being said, I think I've finally found a writing project that holds some promise for accomplishment. It's a new direction for me (writing in the first person) it will somewhat resemble my own life (a teacher) and the highs and lows of creating relationships out of thin air whilst finding a soulmate.

I can't admit that I came up with this project all on my own. Like Oscar Hammerstein I have to give credit where credit is due; I've been watching old episodes of Parenthood on Netflix and a character uttered a phrase that I thought would be perfect for a book title (did ya really think I was going to give that away? Especially if I want to use it as a title).

Thanks television for giving me yet again another epiphany!

~Lady Jane

I Would Be Lying...

if I said I never dreamed of publishing a book, singing on Broadway or voicing a popular Disney cartoon.

So that means I'm jealous of Janette Rallison (Sierra St. James), Julie Andrews and Mandy Moore.

I've known Janette Rallison for a few years now as an adult but I've known of her since I was five. She is my stay-at-home-mom-published-author role-model. I wish I devoted more time to actually writing in my novel that I started three years ago this June (Sheesh! Has it been that long?). But it's entirely my fault since I think I love sleep a little more right now than she does. She is an inspiration to me since she's published a bazillion books it seems.

I've been jealous of Julie Andrews since the first time I sat through The Sound of Music. I wished I could sing as well as she did. I even bought her Christmas album for my dad one year (that ended up being for me after my mom told me he wouldn't really like it) and I've been trying to match her tone ever since.

I've been jealous of Mandy Moore since I heard her voice coming through Rapunzel's in Disney's Tangled. I saw an interview of hers on Regis and Kelly when they asked her about how excited she was to be voicing Rapunzel. She said exactly what I would have, had I been in her shoes, that she had been dreaming to be a part of a Disney feature as a voice since she was a little girl. I even remember going to see The Little Mermaid as a very young girl when it came out in 1989 and I too wanted to be the voice of a Disney princess.

What are your hopes and aspirations?

~ Lady Jane

When I Think of Home...

Due to my incomparable upbringing, I have always had an active imagination. I grew up in the same house for nineteen years, I had freedom to roam our expansive three and a quarter acre lot with trees, grass, our cats and friends. Many nights were spent gazing up at the stars on the trampoline. Running, climbing, and eating filled my days. My paternal grandfather, who I call Papa, planted fruit trees in the backyard. For seven years at least, my cousins and I enjoyed picking the ripe plums, apricots, and pears. Our saliva, sufficient enough to clean them allowed us to move onto our next adventure.

Even when I was a little girl, I dreamed of bringing my children to the home I grew up in to play on the swing set in the backyard, to show them that with enough sweat they could climb the walls with their feet, slide down the stairs on an old mattress or fall asleep on the living room couch as the din of family chatter in the kitchen wafted through the house.

My dream came to an end in 2006. I had no children yet and my parents were being forced out to rebuild a dying company that my father had put his life into. No longer can I bring my children to that home to see their Gigi and Papa and play with cousins uninterrupted in the basement, play a round of 9-hole golf around the house or come over for Sunday dinners.

I hate it when people say, "Let it go" or "It was a long time ago", that doesn't make me feel any better. It doesn't make feel any better to believe that my parents are giving another family the opportunity to make memories in that house too. As childish as this sounds, it was my house first!

The song, "Our House" by Madness, perfectly illustrates the kind of home I had. Needless to say it has become our anthem for my family. We even used it on a video montage for a family reunion.

Father wears his Sunday best

Mother's tired she needs a rest

The kids are playing up downstairs

Sister's sighing in her sleep

Brother's got a date to keep

He can't hang around

Our house, in the middle of our street

Our house, in the middle or our...

Our house it has a crowd

There's always something happening

And it's usually quite loud

Our mum she's so house-proud

Nothing ever slows her down

And a mess is not allowed

Our house, in the middle of our street

Our house, in the middle or our...

Our house, in the middle of our street

Our house, in the middle or our...

Something tells you that you've got to get away from it

Father gets up late for work

Mother has to iron his shirt

Then she sends the kids to school

Sees them off with a small kiss

She's the one they're going to miss

In lots of ways

Our house, in the middle of our street

Our house, in the middle or our...

I remember way back then when everything was true and when

We would have a very good time such a fine time

Such a happy time

And I remember how we'd play simply wasted the day away

Then we'd say nothing would come between us two dreamers

Father wears his Sunday best

Mother's tired she needs a rest

The kids are playing up downstairs

Sister's sighing in her sleep

Brother's got a date to keep

He can't hang around

Our house, in the middle of our street

Our house, in the middle or our street

Our house, in the middle of our street

Our house, in the middle or our...

Our house, was our castle and our keep

Our house, in the middle of our street

Our house, that was where we used to sleep

Our house, in the middle of our street

Our house, in the middle of our street

I loved my house, still do to this day. I've even thought of knocking on the door just to ask if I could look around. I wonder what stories my house would tell me since my family's been gone? Don't you wish if you just pressed your ear up against the walls hard enough you could hear everything the house has been through?