Interview with a Janeite, Featuring Special Guest Sheila Majczan

Welcome back to another round of Interview with a Janeite! In this feature, we interview readers of Jane Austen and Austenesqe works. Each guest is hosted by one of our Austen Variations authors, and this month, it’s my turn! My lovely guest is Sheila Majczan, an active reviewer of Austenesque works on Goodreads. As a special thanks for appearing on the blog, Sheila will be recieving a paperback copy of These Dreams and will have a cameo in a Pride and Prejudice variation I expect to publish next year. More on that later. For now, let’s hear from Sheila!

AV: Tell us a little about your background?

SM: I was born in Bryn Mawr, PA and raised in nearby Malvern.  My father was from upper New York State, while my mother was from Mississippi so we visited relatives in both areas growing up.  While in the south we visited many Civil War Battlegrounds and I was especially impressed with the cyclorama in Atlanta.  Both families were blue collar workers.  I was the first to go to college in the Lambert family although my Uncle Jim Covington did go to college.  I attended public school for first and second grades (no kindergarten then) and then attended Delaware Co. Christian School through 12^th grade.

I worked as a caseworker in both Northampton Co. Children, Youth & Families for two periods of years and also for Allegheny Co. in the same capacity while my husband attended Duquesne Law School from 1971 to 1973.  While he was stationed with the Army at Ft. Hood, TX, I worked as a caseworker for the Texas Dept. of Public Welfare from 1970 to 1971.  One secretary told me I was the nicest “damn Yankee” she has met.

I sought medical treatment for six years in attempting to have a family and we had our first of three children in October of 1979.  We then had another daughter and a son (unplanned but not unwanted).  While rearing our children I was fortunate in being able to remain home with them.  I did some craft classes and some exercise programs as well as volunteered in Summer Bible School and CCD classes and then as a Girl Scout Leader, Cookie Chair person and Annual Giving Chair person.  The latter “jobs” also allowed me to take more trainings, such as crafts and songs.

I went back to work in 1993 as a Kindergarten Teaching Assistant and liked teaching so much I then attended college again and gained my Elementary Teaching Certificate.  I taught Kindergarten for two years.  BUT now a big health problem cropped.  I was diagnosed as having Chronic Myeloid Leukemia after my first year of teaching and found myself exhausted.  Plus the Lutheran School I worked for did not provide medical coverage.  I ended up returning to casework services and worked with abused children and then with children up for adoption as parental rights had been terminated for those.  I finally transferred to work for the Office of Developmental Programs with IDD (Intellectually, Developmentally Disabled) individuals until I retired at the end of 2012.

Re: Leukemia: I am in remission due to a miracle drug now called Gleevec.  I was in the test group in NYC starting in June of 2000 for it when it was STI-571.  It was rushed to market a year later as it was so spectacular in its results.

Readers on Goodreads also know I had Open Heart Surgery August 8, 2017 and had 30 days of hospitalization due to complications.  I am now “relatively” good but age does catch up with us all.

AV: When did you first discover Jane Austen?

SM: Like so many others I was introduced to Jane Austen when the 1995 movie version of Pride and Prejudice was televised.  I then read the book and her other books and found JASNA when a news article mentioned a local group attending a play version of P&P at DeSales College.  I sought out and joined and have been a member since then.

AV: How did you become involved in reviewing Austenesque fiction?

SM: When I retired I thought about what I could do to keep my brain active and even read up on the internet about Alzheimer’s as 1 maternal uncle and 4 maternal aunts had that illness.  I had been doing crossword puzzles, word jumbles, cryptoquotes and Sudoku in the paper or on the Internet but decided to add book reviews as I read so much and that increased as I had more time with retirement.

At first I only posted reviews on Amazon.  But as I found more sites on the Internet posted by other Janeites and met some people through those it was recommended to me by Joy Dawn King that I join the Yearly Challenge on Goodreads and so I now post reviews on both Amazon and on Goodreads.  Although I must add that Goodreads allows me to post reviews of some of the unpublished books or One-shots/Playground pieces I read also.

I have met three other readers through reviews who have joined me then in using Goodreads.  One, Claudine, and I have met in NYC on more than one occasion and she even invited me to join her and others when Cat Gardiner came to NYC.  Shannon Winslow met me for lunch when I visited my daughter, Nicole, who lived near Seattle with her husband at that time.  So posting reviews widened my group of friends and my social activities.  Joy Dawn King and I met through a similar (to this) interview of JA lovers on Meredith’s Austenesque blog.  I asked Meredith to forward a recommendation about a North and South variation (Pack Clouds Away) to her that a commenter on Amazon had recommended to me and we struck up a friendship.

AV: Who do you think is Austen’s most underrated hero, and why?

SM: Colonel Brandon popped up in my mind immediately.  I would love to read more variations about him.  He was thwarted in love by his own family and never had the second chance with that first love which Frederick Wentworth had with Anne Elliot.  He acted out of love in going for Marianne’s mother when Marianne was so sick.  He stood back and did not say anything about Willoughby when he knew his background.  He wanted Marianne to be happy.  My heart went out to him in that story and I would have loved to have read more about him.

AV: Do any of Jane Austen’s characters remind you of yourself?

SM: I can relate somewhat to Fanny Price as I was reared very conservative religiously.  But I have had an open mind after maturing and am not as conservative as before, i.e., I go to movies, I have danced,  (Yes, that was frowned upon.) I married outside of that church and I am open about relationships other than what we think of as traditional.

Elizabeth’s experience with Darcy reminds me of what I found in my dating years.  With a blue collar background I found prejudice about my father’s occupation, the house we lived in and even the clothes we wore.  Teens continue to be very cruel about those types of backgrounds when judging others.  I was so very emphatic with my own children in saying to only judge by how a person treats you, not their house their car or their clothing.

Catherine Morland reminds me of how naïve I was about the world around me when I went away to college.  I was introverted and spent a lot of time observing before entering a group or even a personal conversation as I wanted to understand a little about the atmosphere before sticking my neck out.  (Hello, Darcy)

AV: What types of Austenesque stories do you enjoy?

I will admit that I am particularly fond of P&P variations.  I will read reviews and recommendations for the other stories and even for prequels and sequels and if they are rated a 4 or 5 star read I will probably add those to my TBR pile.  I love ANGST in my stories, as you know.  BUT I must say I do not want to read about rape nor do I read stories in which Elizabeth marries Wickham or even ones such as the one in which Elizabeth was a surrogate mother for Darcy’s and Anne’s baby due to financial needs.  I just can’t abide those.  Joy did convince me to read one in which Elizabeth was “secretly” engaged to Wickham but she did have to twist my arm a bit.  I do also read variations on N&S and loved the Outlander series.  I will read those in which either E. or D. were married to someone else before they meet.  I also have to say I am not particularly fond of those in which cousins marry even though I realize that it was legal in Great Britain and other parts of the world for a long period of time.  I was convinced to read my first paranormal variation when the author of Mr. Darcy’s Bite persuaded me by averring that it was more romance than “scary or bloody horror” drama.

AV: Have you ever thought about writing your own story? 

SM: No.  Several people have asked me that but I just do not have a muse on my shoulder giving me any inspiration or ideas for such.  I will leave that to those who do it so well.  Part of what makes me not want to consider that is the work I know is involved: knowing how to write in Regency language, researching the history of the period, knowing the cant, the idioms, the metaphors, etc. of those times.  Even coming up with names would be a research project for me.  Then there is the matter of the classification of the peers: those names and secondary names confuse me even as a reader at times.  I would rather read but thank you to all the authors who do that work.

AV: What would you like to see more of here at Austen Variations?

SM: I love when we are given excerpts from upcoming books, Works in Progress.  My only drawback in saying that is sometimes the chapters are widely spaced in the time lapses between “chapters” and I find I forget what the story was about and search to find the previous chapters or excerpts.  And if the author never finishes the story…grrrrr!   I am OK with not finishing it for free on the blogs but please publish the finished work so I can buy it and have my resolution.  I usually make a practice of buying those books and definitely post a review.  Although that may depend on how it is presented for sale.  I do like some history when it is relevant to the story.  I also like reading about authors and their own backgrounds.  It seems to me that there are a number out in the NW of the USA.

And now, Sheila turns the tables!

SM: Nicole, I read that you are originally from Idaho.  Among the few things I know about that state is the potato associated with it and the state’s shape and location on the map.  My imagination leads me to believe it might have more ranches than cities and a fairly stable population vs. the influx of various cultures we have here in Pennsylvania.  Is it a conservative state?  I know that when my daughter lived in Seattle with her husband we learned that city was very liberal.  How did where you grew up shape what you are now?

NC: Idaho is a more conservative and rural state, or at least more so than the western part of Oregon, where I live now. (By the way, we call it the Gem State, not the potato state as is commonly believed ;-)) Even growing up in Boise, the capitol, we were surrounded by small ranches and farms. It was not at all unusual for people to have horses in their backyard, which, I only learned later in life, is almost impossible in many other parts of the country. I attended urban schools, but I always lived on the outskirts, and my circle of friends were much like myself; country kids in a city world. It very much shaped my worldview, because the prejudices that boil so many to the point of hatred were almost non-existent in my world. You were what you did, and if you could get along with people, it really didn’t matter what you looked like.

My parents were both small business owners, and to them, a handshake was as good as a contract. They still have stellar names in the area, and I am very proud of the heritage of honor they built. It wasn’t just in their work, but in every other area of their lives. They wouldn’t think themselves particularly special, but I cannot begin to name the people they have touched. From my father, I learned to work and work hard, whether for myself or someone else, and to do it with a cheerful heart. I learned to cook and sew from the same mother who also taught me to drive trailers, volunteer my time, and play a midwife to a herd of horses. It really was a wonderful way to grow up.

SM: Also, I see you have three children. (Ages?) When mine were young I signed them up for many sports and activities such as Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts; my thinking that keeping them busy and giving them interests would keep them out of trouble…hopefully.  May I ask what you do with them and then how you find time to write?  I barely read at all when my children were young as I didn’t pick up a book until they were in bed at night and even then there were chores such as laundry to catch up on.  What do they say about your writing?  Are any of them old enough to have read your books?  Has your husband?  Mine has no interest in reading but has a vast knowledge about golf and other sports as he played football and golf while in high school and continues to play golf and is very good at it.  I played at golf for a few years but had to give it up when I returned to working full-time.

NC: I have two middle schoolers (aaack!) and a brand new fifth grader. I homeschool them, so that means THEY are my first job, which sometimes chafes at my Muse something fierce. I write any chance I get, and I have a Scrivener app on my phone so I can type and edit even in the grocery check out line (yes, I really am that pathetic). My best shot at good writing time, though, is the early mornings. Joy King is a dear friend to me as well, and she is marvelously skilled at yanking me out of bed in the wee hours to tackle a thousand words or so. I can credit her with the timely completion of two, almost three books!

Back to the kids: we work with a distance learning program for academic support, and we also have co-op schools and less formal groups for classes, field trips, etc. We are always busy! My kids participate in guitar lessons and karate, as well as activies through our church. Last winter we started a Lego Robotics team at our house and took the robot to a tournament.

We JUST returned from a trip to Colorado with my son’s youth group where the graduating sixth graders all spent a week doing community service. My daughter had an opportunity to go last year and I went as a chaperone. This year it was my son’s turn. My husband was an adult chaperone on the service projects and I got to work in the kitchens, so there were three of us on the trip. What an amazing opportunity for them!

My kids are only peripherally aware of my writing. They know that I do it, but I do not share specifics. My husband is not permitted to read any of my books, but his mother (a woman I adore, by the way) sneaked behind my back and bought ALL of them. I am still mortified when I think of her reading a romance scene! I forbade her to tell me what she thought of them, so great is my discomfort with the notion of the woman who bore my husband reading a kissing scene I composed.

My poor husband was stuck between trying to cheer his mom on for supporting me and trying to mollify my embarrassment. He is very supportive, and I am finally opening up about some of the “business” side of what I do. Though he is a bookworm like I am, he would never dig the books themselves. I think we are both happier that he doesn’t read them! Someday, I expect my daughter and her Jane-Austen-Crazy best friend will want to read them, and I’ll just crawl under a rock for a month.

SM: You have horses so I imagine you and your family all ride.  I never had that chance but as a youngster always wanted to do so.  My two daughters learned how in Girl Scout camp.  Tell me a little about that.  I have attended rodeos when we lived in Texas for two years so I do know some of what goes on.

NC: I wish more kids had an opportunity to grow up on horseback! I have made it my mission to corrupt as many youngsters as possible. My boys are less interested than my daughter, but she most definitely shares my passion. I spent all my life (until meeting my husband) with the horses as my primary focus, so I was very serious about clinics, shows, etc, to hone my craft. I did Horse 4-H for years, and my kids are now becoming involved. We joined another club last year, and this year it worked better to branch out on our own with another family… except this year, Yours Truly got so wrapped up in a book launch and a funeral that she forgot to turn in the exhibition paperwork, so we are sitting out of the main fair this year. (I was more upset about that than the kids were, and I still haven’t forgiven myself!)

SM: I know you love Elizabeth Gaskell, also, and wonder if you read the unfinished novel Wives and Daughters?  Yes, there is a movie version which gives us an ending.  I always am disappointed with the ending scene where she climbs up on the plateau with him and they don’t touch…hold hands or put their arms around each other, etc.  (Like Darcy not kissing Elizabeth when she accepts him in the 1995 version.)  Any opinion on either?  But I did love the proposal scene in Wives and Daughters.

Honestly, I have not read that book! It is on my list, but I spend a lot less time reading than I would like (reference the above paragraphs about the whirlwind of family life and writing). I have seen that movie version and I loved it, but I agree with you about the disappointing ending. It’s like they wanted to prove some thematic point that they somehow had failed to complete earlier in the production. To be fair, the ending train scene in N&S where Margaret looked away from John after that sweet kiss in the car was just as much of a bummer. Come on, film makers, give us a little more resolution than that!

SM: What hobbies, if any, do you have besides horses and writing (and rearing your children)?  Maybe I am insane to imagine you might have time for anything else.  I like crafts and for many years made needlework pictures and/or pillows, etc. which continue to decorate my home or were given as gifts to friends and relatives.  I even made smocked dresses for my daughters when they were young.  I made hundreds of Polish Stars (A Christmas ornament: look it up on the Internet) but recently decided I am done with that.  I did raise money for Turning Point (for abused women) by selling 50 of those years ago.  I also love to cook but it is not every day now that I have an “empty nest”.  As with most families, I imagine, my husband and offspring love my cooking, especially my meatballs and my meatloaf…such common things!  Do you or does your husband cook?  My son-in-law is the cook in that one couple.  While my son also shares much of not only cooking but also cleaning and laundry.

NC: Whew, well, you are right about limited time! We bought a house last year that needed a lot of work, and I am a bit of a mechanic and handyman at heart. Most of my spare time (you can laugh if you want) is spent puttering about here, repairing fences, doing battle with weeds, “gardening” (I have a black thumb, but the weeds somehow still survive) and refurbishing things inside the house. When we can get away, we love going camping on the Oregon Coast.

I’m a pretty good cook when I bother to do it right. My mama and grandma taught me well! However, if I cooked like that all the time, the books would never get written and I would be a respectable fifteen pounds heavier. I do love music. I grew up playing the organ, which very few people still do. I love sitting down to my instrument once in a while, and I keep thinking I will get my kids to teach me to play the guitar. I can pluck a few simple melodies, but not reliably. I need to do that while they still live in the house with me!

SM: So how did you discover Jane Austen in your thirties?

NC: Ah, that was total guilt! It just kept crossing my path until I felt like a moron for not having read it. I mean, really, a devotee of Anne Shirley and Jane Eyre who loved historical romance but had never picked up Jane Austen? The last straw was meeting one of those super organized, type A people in my circle of mom friends who had a display copy of Pride and Prejudice in a place of honor in her living room. I went right home and ordered it from the library, along with Sense and Sensibility. There was a long wait, so I managed to watch the 1980 version on Netflix, and that made me even more eager to read it. When I finally got the library books, I took them both on a camping trip and nobody saw my face until I had devoured them both… twice. Soon after that, I was pining over the library shelves, wishing for more Jane Austen, when I stumbled on my first JAFF novel. The rest….

SM: How would you describe your personality in comparison with our Jane Austen characters?  I can’t imagine you are an introvert like Darcy.

Sometimes I am. Every time I have taken a personality test, I land somewhere between introvert and extrovert, and that’s pretty accurate. I can be gregarious like Elizabeth, but after a while it is exhausting. I can be a hermit like Darcy (in his happiest fantasies) but it gets boring.

I think I sympathise most with Mrs Gardiner and Fanny Price. Mrs Gardiner is never afraid to do what must be done, she is gentle and friendly, but she does not force her way into the limelight. I love her for that, and I feel like that quite a bit in my daily life. I am in the midst of those “guiding” years, just like she is, when my primary role is to look behind myself and mentor those kids coming into their own, so if I am not a great deal like Mrs Gardiner, I would like to be.

Fanny Price is much like I was when I was younger, because she often feels passed over by others who are tempted to follow glamor (I am definitely not glamorous). She feels it and is grieved, but she is not swayed to change because she doesn’t even know how to be artificial. I admire her for her authenticity, and just like Fanny, I got the amazing guy in the end.

My deepest thanks to Sheila for being such a good sport! Didn’t she have some fun answers? I always love reading the responses and getting to know everyone in the Austenesque world just a little better. I hope you enjoyed it, and check back next time for our next Interview with a Janeite.

-NC