AustenFest: Final Thoughts & Book Giveaway Winners!!!

Although my AustenFest comes to a close tonight, Austenmania is never quite at an end...nor would I want it to be.

I was talking with a very personable bookseller a few weeks ago, and she told me the staff is thrilled with -- but rather surprised by -- the mushrooming popularity of Austen. She wondered if I could account for it in some way.

Truthfully, I could not. To my limited (and seriously prejudiced) perspective, it seems the world is finally catching on to the genius of Jane. I'm sure I wasn't the first 14-year-old to fall in love with Jane's characters, her humor and her worldview, nor was I the first to claim her as my favorite author in the early 1980s...but it does feel as though many more people are jumping on a bandwagon of collective Austen consciousness these days.

It's impossible for me to see that as a bad thing, even if I can't quite explain it.

I began writing According to Jane in the summer of 2004 and finished it in early 2005. And that wasn't the first Austen-esque novel I'd tried to write. (I attempted to do a P&P spinoff in the late 1990s, but I didn't have either the determination or the narrative skill to push this beyond the idea stage back then.) But publishing is an industry where the wheels often turn at a snail-like pace, so I've gotten a raised eyebrow or twelve this year at my premise, along with a knowing nod and an air of certainty that I'm jumping onto one of the faster-moving writing wagons.

I shall let doubters ponder what they will. I, personally, don't think it's possible to fake a love for Austen, however. I believe true fans of her work will spot copycats in a matter of paragraphs. And it thrills me that amongst the authors of heartfelt Austen-related projects, I've had a chance to host four such dedicated writers in the past few weeks. Thanks to all of them, and to all of you, for being a part of the "fest."

So, now...onto the giveaways!!!

Names have just been drawn and, so, let me be the first to say Congratulations to all of the winners below for coming away with a book. And, for the record, we'll be giving away 12 books tonight, not just 10!!

The winner of Syrie's Charlotte Bronte novel is Melanie!

Kim's In the Garden book goes to Caroline!

Abigail added an additional novel tonight, so her FOUR winners are: alison (who is with the Knitty Bloggy Baby Bumpers), Erica, Marlyn, and hthideman!

The winner of Laurie's Confessions novel is Maria Geraci and the person whose name was drawn for Rude Awakenings is Deb Jensen!

Finally, I have personally decided to give away four ARCs of According to Jane, as well as some Starbucks VIA Ready Brew coffee, so the winning names for that are: AlisonB, Kwana, Nina (aka: Lizzy), and Stargazer!

Some of you I know I can reach, but if we have never emailed privately before or if you know for sure that I don't have your mailing address--and that's most of you!--please contact me here with it: marilynbrant AT gmail DOT com. I will be passing along those addresses to the authors as soon as I get them. So, the faster you email me, the faster you'll be able to get the books you won!!

Congrats, again, to everyone, and thanks to you all for making this event a success. And, don't forget, if you're a coffee lover, I have something exciting coming up very soon especially for you. Expect further details no later than Monday!!!

Everything Austen Challenge: "Lost in Austen"

Just jumping in very quickly to say that I completed my first "challenge" when I watched "Lost in Austen" on DVD in its entirety last week. And I laughed hysterically through it... Obviously, it's not entirely true to the characterizations (let alone the plot) that Austen created in Pride & Prejudice, but I appreciated the humor and the inventiveness of the concept. I was relieved when someone mentioned that the one missing scene (where the main character, Amanda Price, sings "Downtown" at Netherfield) is available on a YouTube clip here. Very funny!

Tonight's the night when AustenFest will officially come to a close with the drawing of winners for all of the books. We'll be giving ten away! Good luck to all who participated--I hope you'll come away with a book or two!!

I intend, however, for everyone to be a winner, if not with a book, then with a beverage... Details are still being worked out, but I will keep you posted!

AustenFest: More Giveaways and Celebrations

Thanks to all of you for your comments on Laurie's post and on the posts of all of my wonderful guest authors during AustenFest! I simply can't wait until July 7th at 7pm (Lucky 7-7-7) to do the big book giveaway... Also, congratulations to the winner of the final $10 B&N giftcard, Judy K.--yay! In addition to this, she'll receive a 3-pack of Starbucks VIA Ready Brew coffee, as will the other B&N giftcard winners. (Please email me, Judy, with your address so I can get these out to you. :)

Something I didn't know until this week: These VIA packets that I've grown so attached to are very new and, thus far, only found in Chicago, Seattle and London (although it's possible to get them online here). However, through the generosity of Starbucks, and their representative Jason, who was kind enough to send me some additional packets, everyone who wins one of my ARCs during the AustenFest drawing will get a sample to taste, too.

But that's not all!

I have an idea for for a new event--one I'd like to begin later this month after the chaos of the RWA National Conference subsides. It's something I hope many of you will find mouthwateringly delicious and a fun way to add a little zing (or at least a little caffeine!) to the end of July and the beginning of August. To participate, you need only have (1) an interest in coffee and (2) a willingness to try a mini taste-testing experiment with me... So, if this sounds like you, please mark your calendars! Next week, after the book drawing brings AustenFest officially to a close, I'll post further details...

But, today, I'm giving away two ARCs (along with VIA packets for each winner) to two commenters on my group blog--a new site with daily posts written by my fellow 2007 Golden Heart finalists, aka my Bond Sisters. For those who may not be familiar with the Golden Heart, is the major award given by members of the Romance Writers of America to a handful of unpublished novelists each summer. Approximately 1,200 people enter the writing contest every year, about 65 final and 10 win. My debut novel, According to Jane, won the Golden Heart in 2007. It was one of my happiest--and most terrifying!--moments (if you're interested, you can read about it here). And the book sold to Kensington the following spring.

So, if you have a chance, please join me over at Nobody Writes It Better today. I'll be talking about the music authors use in our novels and--in my case--some of my favorite '80s tunes!

For those of you in the States, Happy 4th! For those of you elsewhere, Happy Weekend!

Austen Around the Internet: The Everything Austen Challenge

I just discovered a really great online event starting this week: the Everything Austen Challenge from Stephanie's Written Word. The goal is to read, watch or do 6 Austen-related things (books, films, the making of recipes from The Jane Austen Cookbook even!) over the next 6 months--from July 1, 2009 through January 1, 2010. The deadline to sign up is July 15th, so you still have a little time if you haven't done it yet, but I think it's going to be a lot of fun! Check out Stephanie's first post about this challenge on her website for all the details!

I just signed up officially tonight--the only problem being that I'm not sure I can limit myself to just SIX things. I have so, so many I want to do... I've read only the 1st chapter or two of Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, so I want to finally finish it. I own the "Lost in Austen" DVDs and haven't watched them yet. I want to read Me & Mr. Darcy (Alexandra Potter), Darcy's Story (Janet Aylmer), Jane Austen Ruined My Life (Beth Pattillo), The Independence of Mary Bennet (Colleen McCullough)--even though I was warned it was dreadful--but, still, a girl has to decide for herself, right?

In nonfiction, I have these in my towering TBR pile: Two Guys Read Jane Austen (Chandler and Hill, Jane Austen in Hollywood (Troost and Greenfield, ed.) and The Annotated Pride and Prejudice.

For films, aside from "Lost in Austen," I've never seen that Mormon version of P&P called "Pride and Prejudice: a Latter Day comedy" and I think I kinda need to...

Oh! And I have the first 3 magazines in the the Marvel Comics P&P series, and I'll be getting the final 2 parts when they're issued, so I want to read those (but I'll only count this as "one" thing).

Then there's the Austen stuff I've already enjoyed but will want to see or read again... Like being able to settle down and leisurely read Abigail Reynold's Impulse & Initiative and Laurie Viera Rigler's Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict, because I gobbled them up the first time and it would be nice to sit back and slowly drink them in :). And, I want to see the Keira and Matthew version of "P&P" again because I've watched the Colin and Jennifer version so many times I have whole sections memorized.

If anyone else out there is doing the Everything Austen Challenge, I'd love to hear one or two things you're planning to do. And if you're NOT doing it, I'd also love to know what are a couple of books or films you've always wanted to read or watch but never got around to it?

**AustenFest reminder--I'll be drawing the name of the last $10 B&N giftcard winner on Friday morning and also I'll be telling you about a Very Cool Thing that happened this week as a result of the "fest"...something that many of you will get to enjoy as well! The big book giveaway is set for Tuesday, July 7th--so there's still time to add comments to my lovely guest authors' posts and get in on the drawing!!**

AustenFest: Laurie Viera Rigler

Hope you all had a great weekend. (I got to go to a wedding. Quite an exciting event!) I wanted to start the day by saying "Congrats!" to our newest winner--Aimee--for winning the third of four $10 B&N giftcards. Yay! Aimee, please email me at marilynbrant AT gmail DOT com with your address so I can get that out to you!

Also, I have 2 mini prizes for commenters from Abigail Reynold's post. I just came across these this weekend and I love them already: Starbucks Via Ready Brew packets. Each one has 3 soluble, microground coffee servings inside. The nice Starbucks guy assured me they can be served hot or cold (I've only done it the hot way so far), but you simply open up a little pack, pour it in the water, stir or shake and...voila! I picked up a Colombian flavor and an Italian Roast. And...the Colombian brew goes to Bloggin BB ; the Italian Roast goes to Lois. (Hurray for you both! Please email me so I can mail them out.)

See? Aren't Monday mornings fabulous? For me, they're extra fun when when I get to give away prizes and when I've got a terrific guest here on Brant Flakes. So, without waiting a moment longer, let me introduce my final AustenFest author, Laurie Viera Rigler.

At the Chicago AGM, where I had the pleasure of hearing Laurie present a workshop, I asked her to autograph my copy of her wonderful debut novel, Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict (Dutton, 2007)--a book Publishers Weekly smartly called "a winner." When she told me a sequel would be coming this summer, I giggled in gleeful anticipation, hoping the months would pass quickly...

Well, the wait is now over! Just a few days ago, Dutton released Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict, and being that I was fortunate enough to get a sneak preview, I'm here to tell you all that it's as fantastic and fun as the first, and it earned 4 1/2 stars and a Top Pick from Romantic Times BOOKreviews!! Want a window into the world of Laurie's heroine? Take a look at her new book trailer (it's also up on AustenBlog, check out the June 12th post).

Welcome, Laurie! Can you tell us the basic premise of your new book? Yes, but first may I just say how excited I am to be participating in AustenFest? It's such an honor to be here. Thank you for inviting me, Marilyn! [My pleasure, Laurie!!]

Here is the premise of my new book: Imagine you are a 30-year-old gentleman's daughter in 1813 England named Jane Mansfield (no relation to the 1950s movie legend). You go riding, fall from your horse, and the next time you open your eyes you are in a strange bed in a strange room in a body that is not your own. On the wall is a calendar: It is no longer 1813, it is 2009. You're not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy. You're in a bewildering city called Los Angeles, a place of wondrous machines, questionable morals, and byzantine courtship rituals. Good thing you have the words of your favorite novelist, Jane Austen, to help you make sense of it all.

That's Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict. It is the parallel story to my first novel, Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, in which a twenty-first-century Austen fan awakens as the nineteenth-century gentleman's daughter from Rude Awakenings.

What's one scene from this story you loved writing? In the very first chapter, Jane has her first close encounter with modern technology, i.e., a glass box in which tiny figures act out scenes from her favorite book, Pride and Prejudice. She is delighted to see Lizzy and Darcy come to life yet absolutely puzzled as to why they cannot hear her when she calls out to them and introduces herself. It was great fun to see my world through the eyes of my protagonist and imagine her reactions to all the things we take for granted, from electric lights and DVD players to computers, cars, and airplanes.

What's a personality trait you love about one of the characters in your novel? Adventurousness. Despite landing in a bewildering and potentially frightening world, my protagonist doesn't waste much time in fear. Instead, she finds pleasure in the miraculous conveniences and delicious freedoms of life in the twenty-first century while trying to come to terms with our curious mating rituals and other bizarre social customs.

Who was the first person you told when you got The Call announcing you'd sold your first novel? My husband. I couldn't quite wrap my mind around what was happening, and telling him made it all real. I had gone from sitting in a room, for years, unraveling the story in my head, to realizing that this story in my head was going to be an actual, tangible book, out there in the world, that other people were going to read. I'll never forget the sensation; it's how I imagine someone would feel who won the lottery. After all, isn't that what everyone tells us, how the odds are solidly against our ever getting our first novel published? Glad I didn't listen to the naysayers. And if anyone who's reading this is also writing a novel, don't you listen either. Because as my teacher reminded me, someone wins the jackpot every week! [Great advice...]

What's one piece of writing advice you've found valuable on your journey to publication? My teacher very wisely encouraged me to think of myself as a "storyteller" rather than a "writer," because the word "writer" has all sorts of baggage attached to it. (You know, the kind that starts with "You're not a writer unless you…" Or worse, "You're not a REAL writer unless you…") Storytellers get to sit around the fire and weave tales and mesmerize their listeners, unburdened by all those cumbersome expectations.

What’s the most surprising thing that has happened to you on your publishing journey? Have you learned things about the industry you never knew before? I've learned that I should treasure every moment I have with every one of the remarkable people assigned to work on my books and realize that they may not always be there, because there is a great deal of turnaround in this industry. I had assumed that my original editor and I would be immune to the impermanence of working relationships, as she was editor-in-chief of the imprint and not likely to leave. Less than two years later, she left to become an agent. Three of the publicists assigned to my books and two directors of marketing and publicity have also moved on. I am fortunate that every person who has been assigned to work on my books has been stellar. Moreover, my angel of an agent has been a stable, consistent force throughout.

Do you pay attention to book reviews? If so, has there been any particular review that made your heart do a little dance? I'd like to be one of those authors who says, "I never pay attention to reviews." But I'm not there yet. I had the jitters—big time—right before my first novel, Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, came out in North America. I was hugely relieved that the very first print review it received, in Publishers Weekly, was a positive one. Recently Confessions debuted in the UK, and I had the jitters all over again. These days to get reviewed at all in print media is a stroke of good fortune, what with all the cutbacks in that industry, so when a reviewer at The Observer said that she "spent a blissful day" with my book, my heart definitely did the happy dance!

Writers are usually big readers too. How do you make time for reading and what are you reading at the moment? I cannot imagine a day without reading, and aside from the pure enjoyment of immersing myself in a good book, I find reading to be a great writing teacher. No matter how busy I am, I always find time for reading, even if it's just a few pages before I drop off to sleep at night. I read during breaks, when I'm standing in line at the post office, wherever I can squeeze it in!

At the moment I'm re-reading a mind-blowing novel by David Ambrose called Superstition.

Any favorite movies you've seen? Ones you've watched over and over again? I'm a movie fanatic, and not surprisingly, many of my favorite movies are Austen adaptations. I love, own, and have watched these films multiple times: "Sense and Sensibility"(Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet), "Emma" (Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeremy Northam), "Bride and Prejudice" (the Bollywood-meets-Hollywood delight starring Aishwarya Rai and Martin Henderson), "Persuasion" (Amanda Root and Ciaran Hinds), "Pride and Prejudice"(Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle), and "Bridget Jones's Diary." I own and enjoy almost all the others as well. My favorite of the more recent adaptations is the "Sense and Sensibility" mini, penned by Andrew Davies. And I loved "Becoming Jane," which, while not strictly factual, I see as delightfully true to the spirit of the feisty, trailblazing author I love so well.

On the non-Austen side, my favorites include "Love Actually," "Notting Hill," "Bend It Like Beckham," "Sliding Doors," "Groundhog Day," "Still Crazy," "The Winslow Boy," and, more recently, "Duplicity," which I loved so much I saw it in a movie theater two nights in a row. [I've seen and enjoyed several of these films, especially "Groundhog Day" and "Bend It Like Beckham." You've convinced me to watched "Duplicity" now!]

Laurie is giving away two signed copies of her books--one of each title! So, for a chance to win a copy of either Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict or Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict, all you have to do is leave a message in the comment section of this post by July 7th, the day we'll be having our big book giveaway. Good luck! The fourth and final $10 B&N giftcard will go to someone who comments on Laurie's post between now and July 3rd. I'll draw the winning name that morning and do a little AustenFest wrap up then, too, so please check back :).

One last note, voting for the Regency World Awards ends tomorrow, June 30th, and Laurie is up for one! If you haven't yet cast your votes for her first novel, Confessions, and you want to show your support--go here now!!

AustenFest: Abigail Reynolds

Happy Friday! Thanks to Kim Wilson for her Wednesday visit, and a reminder to all that Kim's book (and all of the other books) will be drawn after 7pm on July 7th.

As we begin today, I just want to thank you all for being such fabulous visitors, and I'd like to announce the winner of the second $10 B&N giftcard. Anyone who left a comment on Kim's interview before today's Q&A was posted is eligible... So, the lucky winner of the day is: Marlyn. (Yay for you! Please email me with your address so I can get that out to you. I'm at: marilynbrant AT gmail DOT com.)

And, because this is the time in the Festing where we're all famished and in need of a few good hors d'oeuvres--right?!--I decided to give out The Book of Appetizers by June Budgen to one of this week's commenters. And that prize goes to: Tiffany. (Congrats! Please email me privately as well.) Um, one question, Tiffany. If we ask nicely, will you order up some Ricotta-Cheese Puffs and a few Cucumber Sandwiches for us? (Check out p.81 and p.111 respectively--or ask the chef to substitute with the Deviled Mixed Nuts on p.101--we're not picky. :-)

While we wait for the food to arrive...
I have a wonderful little story to tell about my guest today, Abigail Reynolds. I'd first heard about her last summer from my Chicago-North RWA chaptermate and friend Pamala Knight. Pamala told me Abigail was "nice"--but then, Pamala is the Reigning Queen of Understatement. (Pamala also told me a few weeks ago that she was going on a "trip" this month. Um, yeah. I was thinking, Wisconsin? Minnesota? Indiana? She was thinking...Ireland. Hope you're having fun, my dear!)

Well, I had the pleasure of meeting Abigail and their mutual friend Elaine at the Chicago AGM this past fall, and they were so warm, welcoming and inclusive, I wanted to hug the lot of them. (I did, in fact. :) After little more than a few snatches of afternoon conversation, Pamala, Elaine and Abigail all changed their reserved seating arrangements for the big Regency Ball dinner--from a more advantageous location to one much farther back, I hasten to add--just because they discovered there wasn't room for me at their table. I tell you, Jane herself would have considered their behavior MOST amiable and kind. That was certainly my opinion.

Abigail has a great blog and a number of books out as part of her Pemberley Variations series, plus she's written a few other Austen-related projects. Publishers Weekly called one of her latest releases, Pemberley by the Sea (Sourcebooks, 2008), an "engaging love story" and Booklist says, "Reynolds convincingly updates Austen’s classic, and romance fans will be carried along by the smoldering heat between Cassie and Calder."

Abigail, I'm so glad to have you here!

New readers want to know about your books. Can you tell us about the most recent? I had two books released this year. The first is Pemberley by the Sea, a modern novel that reflects the plot of Pride & Prejudice. It’s the love story between Cassie, a marine biologist who pulled herself out of poverty by her bootstraps, and Calder Westing, a scion of a wealthy political family, who sees Cassie as a modern-day Elizabeth Bennet.

The second book is Impulse & Initiative, which is part of my Pemberley Variations series. These are Regency novels that look at roads not taken in Pride & Prejudice. Impulse & Initiative is a romantic look at what might have happened if Darcy had decided to try to win Elizabeth’s love after she refused his first proposal of marriage, rather than waiting for chance to bring them together.

Do you have a favorite kind of food? Anything you really won't eat? I love chocolate, ice cream, fruit, and ethnic foods. About the only thing I won’t eat is sushi, which is the result of a parasitology course I took years ago. I think sushi is really pretty safe; I just have too vivid a picture in my mind of what could be wrong with it.

Do you have any favorite books on the craft of writing that you often use? Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird has been the most helpful to me, both on the craft of writing and living the writer’s life. She has a lot of great insights. (Oh, I love that book, too!)

What's your Writer Fantasy--i.e., to see your book make into a feature film, to be on the New York Times bestseller list for 40 consecutive weeks, etc.? Actually, my fantasy isn’t about sales, but about the place my books have in my readers’ lives. I see them as comfort food for the mind, and I love hearing from readers who say that my books helped them keep going through difficult times. I’ve had a number of readers tell me that they’ve re-read my books several times, which makes me very happy.

Did you go on any special trips to research the setting? I used settings I already knew well. I spent one summer after college taking a course in marine ecology at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, and I’ve visited there frequently since. Cassie’s salt marsh is one I used to hike through. I’m always happy to have an excuse to go back to do more research or soak in the setting, though--right now I’m about a mile from the house Calder bought in West Falmouth. I keep expecting to run into my characters on the street!

What do you think readers might be surprised to know about you? It’s hard to say who is most surprised about my two professions--my readers who find out I’m a doctor or my patients and colleagues who find out I write romantic novels! It’s amusing to see some of the shocked reactions. It seems like nobody expects those two to go together.

What’s next for you? Is there a new book in the pipeline? There’s a new Pemberley Variation coming out in Fall 2010, and my publisher taking a look at Morning Light, the sequel to Pemberley by the Sea. I’ve started work on the next book in the Woods Hole Quartet as well. People keep asking for more Pemberley Variations, but I’m wondering how many more variations I can do without repeating myself.

Writers are usually big readers too. How do you make time for reading and what are you reading at the moment? It’s a struggle to find reading time, but somehow I manage to slip it in. It’s harder to lose myself in a book these days, though, because part of my brain is always looking at how the book is written and noticing what works and doesn’t work. Right now I’m reading the reissue of Cotillion by Georgette Heyer, soaking in some Regency atmosphere from the woman who inspired the Regency romance industry.

Thank you, Abigail. As a wonderful treat to visitors, Abigail is giving away signed copies of three of her novels to three lucky commenters!! So, to be in the running to win a copy of Pemberley by the Sea, Without Reserve or Impulse & Initiative, just leave a little note for Abigail in the comment section of this post before our drawing on July 7th. Also, from me...the third $10 B&N giftcard will go out to someone who comments on Abigail's post before the final Q&A (featuring the kind and talented Laurie Viera Rigler!) goes up on Monday, June 29th.

Have a great weekend, everyone! Until Monday...

AustenFest: Kim Wilson

Before we get started today, I first wanted to thank everyone who took part in Monday's AustenFest kickoff with Syrie James and remind you that we'll be drawing the name of the winner of her novel on July 7th, along with all of the other books we're giving away during the festivities--about 10 of them at last count. So, visitors, please feel free to keep commenting on all the guest-author posts until the close of the contest. Everyone is still eligible to win books until then.

However, there was a much shorter window of opportunity for the winner of the first $10 B&N giftcard! I just drew that person's name from the list of people who have commented so far, and it's: LaShaunda!! (Congrats! Please email me at marilynbrant AT gmail DOT com and let me know your mailing address so I can send it to you!)

Also, simply because there were so many nice people stopping by who've embraced the party atmosphere and are enthusiastically celebrating Jane with us, I wanted to toss in another prize just for fun: a 4-pack Mount of Olives "Treasures Tea" collection (5 teabags each of flavors: Sweet Apple Spice, Soothing Chamomile, Jasmine Green and English Breakfast) along with 12 Ferrero Rondnoir dark chocolates...because, in my book, the two go together. And the winner of that prize is: Natalie (Congratulations to you, too! Please email me privately as well. :)

Today, I'm honored to have Kim Wilson visiting Brant Flakes. She's the author of two gorgeous nonfiction books, Tea with Jane Austen (Jones Books, 2004) and In the Garden with Jane Austen (Jones Books, 2008), the latter of which is up for a prestigious Regency World Award this year. (Voting goes until 6/30, btw, so visit the site to see all the nominees and to cast your votes...) The ceremony is to be held in Bath, England on Wednesday, July 8th. Good luck, Kim!

Both of Kim's books have gotten some fantabulous reviews, but the one that made my jaw drop was from Andrew Davies, screenwriter for our beloved 1995 version of Pride & Prejudice, which featured the handsome and unforgettable Colin Firth. Of In the Garden with Jane Austen, Davies wrote: "Wonderfully informative, full of detail, illustrated with ravishing photographs--a must for any Austen fan." Wow...

Delighted to have you here, Kim!

Can you tell us about your books? My most recent book, In the Garden with Jane Austen, is a tour through the sorts of gardens Jane Austen knew and loved, from the small cottage gardens of the poor to the gardens of the great estates such as Pemberley. It answers those questions we all have about the gardens in her books: What did the grounds at Pemberley really look like? What, exactly, was grown in the shrubbery where Mr. Knightley proposes to Emma? Why did Mrs. Norris have Fanny cut the roses? And why did the Bennet family have “a prettyish kind of a little wilderness” on their estate? I’ve included has touring information for the garden sites associated with the Austen family, as well as for those in the screen adaptations of the novels, and instructions for re-creating your own Austen garden. Tea with Jane Austen, my first book, tells how tea was taken in Austen’s time, using fun excerpts from her novels and letters. I also included some tasty teatime recipes from her era.

What's one chapter you especially loved writing/researching and why? The chapter on the gardens of the great estates in my garden book. Finding out what Pemberley would have looked like was so much fun. And once you realize what garden features were in the gardens of the rich, you see what everyone else was trying to imitate. It puts Mrs. Bennet’s hermitage in perspective.

Do you have a Writer's Fantasy--i.e., to be on the New York Times bestseller list in Nonfiction for 40 consecutive weeks, etc.? Well, that’s a lovely fantasy! More important to me, though, is to be respected in the Austen community. I put such effort into research and making sure the information I use is accurate, and I hope that’s appreciated by my readers.

Would your high school friends be surprised to discover you'd become an author? Probably not. I was pretty bookish in high school, a bluestocking in fact, to use a phrase from Austen’s time.

Do your neighbors/hometown acquaintances know you're a published author or did you just choose to tell those closest to you? I’ve only told my friends. My daughters tend to tell their friends, though, so people are starting to become aware. I don’t think they know what to make of it, though, because they’re used to seeing me at school meetings and the grocery store.

What's one piece of writing advice you've found valuable on your journey to publication? Strunk and White’s “Omit needless words.” I read so much from the 18th and early 19th centuries, and if I’m not careful I start to write in that manner. Jane Austen’s style is so refreshingly different from that of most of her contemporaries, though, that it provides a useful corrective.

Did you go on any special trips to research your books? For In the Garden with Jane Austen, I was in the happy position of having to travel to England to see the gardens for myself and take photos for the book. It was wonderful to have a really good excuse to tour all the Austen sites again at Chawton, Steventon, Godmersham, London, and Bath, as well as some new sites for me, such as Stoneleigh Abbey.

What might readers might be surprised to know about you? Probably that, although I mentally live in the Georgian and Regency periods, I’m really fond of science fiction.

Do you pay attention to book reviews? If so, has there been any particular review that made your heart do a little dance? I write my books for myself first, to answer the questions I’ve always had about life in Jane Austen’s time, but I find it reassuring to know that other people appreciate the answers I’ve found. I think my favorite review so far is by Andrew Davies. (*see wonderful quote above*) How could that not make me happy?

Writers are usually big readers too. How do you make time for reading and what are you reading at the moment? No matter what, I read in the evenings before bed. It’s a nice transition from the busy day. Right now I’m reading An Inebriated History of Britain, by Peter Haydon. It’s a fun look at the history of drinks and drinking in Great Britain.

What’s next for you? Is there a new nonfiction book in the pipeline? I’m working on several projects right now, but the first will probably be a children’s biography of Jane Austen.

Could you please tell us a little about your writing background and how you made your first sale? I do freelance editing and ghostwriting, mostly on rather boring topics! I met the publisher of Jones Books at a JASNA luncheon and pitched my idea for Tea with Jane Austen to her, networking at its finest.

Any favorite movies you've seen? Ones you've watched over and over again? I love the Austen adaptations, of course, though each one has its flaws. I love old movies, especially Grant and Hepburn movies. "Arsenic and Old Lace" and "The Philadelphia Story" are probably my favorites. (Marilyn jumps in to say, Oh, I love "The Philadelphia Story," too...)

Did you have a writing mentor? If so, in what ways did he/she provide guidance? My favorite writing professor in college drilled us in writing in different voices and styles. It’s been really useful to be able to call on that.

What drew you to the subjects of your books? I wanted to know the answers to the questions I had about life in Jane Austen’s time, and the first subjects that drew my attention were two loves of mine: tea and gardens.

What was it about Jane Austen that first caught your interest? Her wicked wit.

We're fortunate because Kim is giving away a copy of In the Garden with Jane Austen to some lucky person who leaves a message on this post, so please take a moment to comment and, possibly, win. (Anybody living anywhere in the world is eligible. :) Again, the book drawings will be on July 7th, but if you leave a comment for Kim before the next guest-author interview is posted on Friday, you'll be entered to win the second of the four $10 B&N giftcards. I'll post that winner's name on 6/26...

Up Friday: Abigail Reynolds!