Category: General

Advent Calendar Day 3: Mr. Collins’s Last Supper (conclusion)

Thank you for opening the third “window” on the Jane Austen Variations advent calendar! Today is the final chapter of my Pride and Prejudice based short story Mr. Collins’s Last Supper – the tongue-in-cheek tale of how that pompous clergyman learned (too late) why gluttony is considered one of the “seven deadly sins.” In case …

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Advent Calendar Day 2: Mr. Collins’s Last Supper (part 2)

Thank you for opening the second “window” on the Jane Austen Variations advent calendar! Today’s prize is part two (of three) of my Pride and Prejudice based short story Mr. Collins’s Last Supper – the tongue-in-cheek tale of how that pompous clergyman learned (too late) why gluttony is considered one of the “seven deadly sins.” …

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December Advent Calendar Begins!

Do you remember the days – before the internet and everything digital – when a simple Advent Calendar added joy and excitement to the weeks leading up to Christmas? Every day you would open up a new window to discover something special inside. Well, we’re doing our own version of that Advent Calendar here at …

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Jane Austen at School by Diana Birchall

As this month’s theme has to do with Jane Austen and School, let us begin with a visit, in fact and in story, to the school Jane Austen herself attended. Other treatments of the theme might deal with her characters at school – or university – or threatened with working as governesses – or anything …

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Jar of Hearts: A Mystery for your Halloween Reading

My writing journey has been a roller coaster thus far. I know it’s a cliche to say but it’s absolutely true. One of my manuscripts which has gone through a ride of its own is a YA Mystery I wrote a few years ago. I landed an agent with this manuscript only to have that …

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Prologue- Unwrapping Mr. Darcy

Hi, everyone! I’m so excited to share this with you. I hope everyone enjoys a big ball of fluff because even with a super stubborn Elizabeth, we still have Grunt! We can’t leave him out. If you haven’t pre-ordered your copy yet, hurry over to Amazon and place the order! It will only be $3.99 …

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New Release – The Carriage Ride by Mary Simonsen

Darcy and Elizabeth alone – That is my favorite story to write. Get rid of all the noise created by the secondary characters so that I can have a closer look at our favorite couple. In The Carriage Ride, Darcy and Lizzy meet by chance at The Bell, the coaching inn at Bromley (recommended by …

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My Happy Place

I can’t imagine a life without books. When people tell me they don’t read, I try reallllly hard to keep any kind of expression off my face, while inwardly thinking, WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU??? Books are my happy place. Reading them, writing them, hugging them… whatever it is they make me smile. So recently, a big …

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Site Updates Underway

Just a quick note to let you know that Austen Variations site is undergoing some updating and maintenance right now.  The site may look a bit wonky for a bit, but no to worry, it shouldn’t last for very long and none of the content you’ve come to know and love should be changing n …

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Would You Rather: Austen Edition

My kids love to play the game Would You Rather. The questions range from, Would You Rather have Wi-Fi that’s always slow, or have a phone that’s always about to die? To questions like, Would You Rather burp every time you speak, or fart every time you kiss someone? A lot of the questions are …

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