Leenie Brown fell in love with Jane Austen's works when she first read Sense and Sensibility followed immediately by Pride and Prejudice in her early teens. As the second of five daughters and an avid reader, she has always loved to see where her imagination takes her and to play with and write about the characters she meets along the way. In 2013, these two loves collided when she stumbled upon the world of Jane Austen Fan Fiction. A year later, in 2014, she began writing her own Austen-inspired stories and began publishing them in 2015. Leenie lives in Nova Scotia, Canada with her two teenage boys and her very own Mr. Brown (a wonderful mix of all the best of Darcy, Bingley and Edmund with healthy dose of the teasing Mr. Tillney and just a dash of the scolding Mr. Knightley).
Alfred Stevens [Public domain] via Wikimedia Commons
~*~*~
“Does Charlotte know of your betrothal?” She (Lady Lucas) looked at Mrs. Bennet without waiting for Elizabeth’s reply. “I am sending a letter tomorrow. I do it twice a month you know. It is dreadful and yet not so very much to have one’s daughter so far removed, although she is not so far away as some will be.” She paused only long enough to take a quick breath. “Will you be remaining at Netherfield, Mr. Bingley?”
“Has Miss Linton told you about Eiddwen House?” He picked up his cup and saucer and rose from the table.
“Only that Miss Barrett helps match servants and positions.”
Charles stood at the window which overlooked the street. “It is a remarkable place.” He turned and faced Henry. “She took me on a tour of it today. It is all very organized and efficient – not that I would expect less from a proper chit like Miss Barrett.” He tipped his head. “She is very demanding.”
“Much like her mother?”
“Precisely,” he punctuated the word with his lifted cup. “But far more kissable.”
“Yet, you did not kiss her hand.”
“Strange thing that.” He shook his head. He still was not entirely certain why he had foregone such an opportunity. He had never hesitated to press his admiration of a lady in such a way. He shook his head again. She was different. He did not know why or how, but Miss Barrett was different. The same scheme as he always played would not work with her, nor – his brows rose – did he wish it to.
“As I was saying,” he began again, “I have promised to alert her if I hear of any quality positions for valets or groomsmen, and I am asking you to tell me if you hear of any. It is a good thing she is doing there at that house.” He turned back to the window. “Not a piece of money exchanges hands,” he added. “I am considering making a donation.”
There was a spitting and sputtering behind him.
“Yes, a donation,” he answered the shocked question that was drowning in Henry’s incorrectly swallowed tea. “I know I do not offer up my funds on anything easily, except a lark of a bet, but…” He turned toward Henry. “I believe I might actually be able to do some good. Me. How is that for a shocker? Charles Edwards, philanthropist.” He shrugged. “And it might well earn me that kiss I desire.”
[from Charles: To Discover His Purpose]
Published to YouTube by Home Free on April 26, 2016
I’ve decided that for the Monday’s in January, I am going to try to share motivational sorts of songs since it is the start of a new year and where I live, it’s often cold and grey, so a little light might be nice. 🙂 I’ll try to see if I can come up with story tie-ins for them, but I’m not promising I can. (If I can, they might be a bit of a stretch.)
Today’s tie-in is the fact that Charles is willing to try just about anything to get a kiss from Evelyn, and it is this willingness, by the way, that brings about his discovery and change. Trying new things can lead to some wonderful results. (Or devastating disasters as might just happen in the above story before the wonderful results.)
I have some plans to try some new things this year. One of those things is that I hope to begin posting a second story on Tuesdays. My goal for the first post is February 5. I’ll share a bit more about that right before the story excerpt today since I made an attempt at starting that Tuesday story and am going to share it with you.
As I did last week with the poll I included, I am planning to be more “interactive” in my Monday posts from time to time. I do not have any survey questions for you to answer today, but I do have the results from last week’s poll, which I closed on Saturday morning so that I could get this post ready on Saturday night. 🙂
The chart images are a little small, so let me copy the summary here:
Q1. Mr. Darcy’s Comfort is the most read book, but every book has been read at least once. Yay!
Q2. This one was fun! Master of Longbourn (Mr. Collins) wins as favourite. 🙂 (Sorry, Darcy. 😀 but it could have been worse. Poor Charles, Mary, and Georgiana were nobody’s favourites in this group.)
Q3. There seems to be the most interest in reading Assessing Mr. Darcy, but none of the books look like they will be sitting on the side like an unloved wallflower. 😉
I found looking at the results to be great fun. I hope you enjoyed being part of that fun.
Now, before we get to the story excerpt, I have some publishing news. I wish it was better publishing news, to be honest, but it is what it is. I have submitted my files of Delighting Mrs. Bennet to Amazon for a preorder. At the time of my writing this post on Saturday night, those files were still not published. However, the print copy of Delighting Mrs. Bennet, which I submitted after the ebook, has been published. In addition to that, I had a question at one of my uploading platforms which I sent to their help desk on Thursday, and I am still waiting for a reply from them.
However, on a brighter note, I had not one issue with uploading to Kobo, so here is the only link I have at present for pre-ordering Delighting Mrs. Bennet (it is a Canadian link since that is where that site directs me, but you should be able to switch between stores easily): https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/delighting-mrs-bennet
You will notice that the cover for Confounding Caroline has changed (or is changing — Amazon has not yet put the new cover up, and I have no idea why). This cover change was made out of necessity. I need the cover images to be similar for this series, and I had selected a few images of the same couple used in the first Confounding Caroline cover for use in the future series books. However, when I returned to the site to purchase those images, I learned that the site has closed its doors. I was so saddened by this, but feeling bad was not going to change things. So, I developed a plan B — and made a new cover. 🙂 These stories have Darcy at their center. Therefore, I have gone with a Darcy image on them.
Finally, we can get to that excerpt. (My, this is a long post!)
Sometimes, as I am in the beginning stages of brainstorming a story, I find it helpful to just jump in and write an opening scene. That is what I did this past Tuesday, and the excerpt below is that initial partial scene I wrote. I am nearly 100% certain this is where I want this story to start, but there is a small chance that it could change.
The story has no title yet. It will star Roger Shelton, who was Graeme Clayton’s friend in His Beautiful Bea, and will be the second story in my Touches of Austen collection.
These stories are original sweet Regency romances with intentional nods to Jane Austen’s novels. His Beautiful Bea nodded to Mansfield Park but was in NO WAY a variation or a retelling. It has an original cast of characters as well as an original plot line.
Roger’s story will give a nod or two to Jane Austen’s Emma. As you read the excerpt below, see if you can see anything which might make you think of something from Emma. Leave your thoughts in the comments.
(one note: I don’t have it woven into the story yet that this is taking place at the house party Bea’s cousins were planning to attend. It is a very first draft so it’s likely missing a few things. 🙂 )
John Henry Dolph [Public domain]; via Wikimedia Commons
~*~*~
“Did I tell you I acquired a kitten for Miss Bennet?”
Darcy blinked and looked at Bingley. “You did what?”
“Before I left town, Miss Bennet was telling me about a cat she once had but that had run away during a storm. She seemed to miss it a great deal, so when I arrived, I sought out Sir William and inquired if he knew where I might find a grey tabby cat. As luck would have it, he knew precisely where I might find one.” Bingley lifted the drapes out of the way and scooped up a kitten. “This is Oliver. He has yet to learn not to push vases off tables.”
It’s hard to believe that another year has come and gone. Today, I’m going to take a little look back at 2018 as we “Let Her Go.” ( 🙂 I do love a good pun!)
Published to YouTube by The Piano Guys on February 19, 2014
It was a busy year!
Let’s begin by looking at the Class of 2018 books. 🙂 I have included the month in which they were published for those who might be curious about that sort of detail.
January
March
April
May
June
October
December
To go with this peek at the Class of 2018, I have created a quick three-question survey. I would love it if you would take a minute and answer these questions. I’ll post the results of the survey next week.
Recently published does not equal 2018 bestseller. The bestsellers for the year are on this graphic. Some of the new releases made the cut, but not all.
Here’s another interesting statistic from the year:
At the time of my writing this post on Saturday, December 29, 2018, my yearly word count total is
327,242 words
But…there is still today, and I am hoping to find time to write a little bit. I did not finish the fourth installment of Loving Lydia on Friday. I only got part way through it before I had to stop for the night. It needs to be done.
Speaking of Loving Lydia, it will be the first Thursday blog story of the year, and it starts posting this Thursday!
In that same vein of thought, you might like to know that Delighting Mrs. Bennet, which is the book that comes right before Loving Lydia in the Marrying Elizabeth series, is scheduled to be published NEXT Thursday, January 10, 2019, and will be the first book published in 2019. Preorder details should be arriving soon, I hope. (I still need to work on a few things for this.)
I am still working on Tom: To Secure His Legacy. This book will be the first book posted on Patreon for 2019 and hopefully, will be the second book published. (Fingers crossed — well, yours not mine. Typing is too difficult when you cross your fingers. LOL)
I have some other plans that I am trying to get nailed down better as this year ends and a new one begins. Hopefully, I will be able to share some of those plans with you in next Monday’s post.
For now, I will leave you with a small excerpt from Tom’s story (which I did not get to write on very much this week due to holidays and my husband being off work).
He was home. Never to leave again. He was exactly where he was meant to be. Here. With her. Until the frost fairies never returned to paint another windowpane in winter. Or perhaps even longer.
[from Frosted Windowpanes, A Touches of Austen Novelette]
Now, before we get to the story excerpt, I have some publishing news. I wish it was better publishing news, to be honest, but it is what it is. I have submitted my files of Delighting Mrs. Bennet to Amazon for a preorder. At the time of my writing this post on Saturday night, those files were still not published. However, the print copy of Delighting Mrs. Bennet, which I submitted after the ebook, has been published. In addition to that, I had a question at one of my uploading platforms which I sent to their help desk on Thursday, and I am still waiting for a reply from them.
You will notice that the cover for Confounding Caroline has changed (or is changing — Amazon has not yet put the new cover up, and I have no idea why). This cover change was made out of necessity. I need the cover images to be similar for this series, and I had selected a few images of the same couple used in the first Confounding Caroline cover for use in the future series books. However, when I returned to the site to purchase those images, I learned that the site has closed its doors. I was so saddened by this, but feeling bad was not going to change things. So, I developed a plan B — and made a new cover. 🙂 These stories have Darcy at their center. Therefore, I have gone with a Darcy image on them.
