Jane Austen Movies, gowns and the writing contest

Still on a marathon of watching Jane Austen movies.  Saw Sense and Sensibility with Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Kate Winslet and Hugh Grant. Wonderful!! I've seen it before but it was such a pleasure to see it again.

I know, I said I would not watch another Persuasion but I did. It was truer to the book and only left out half-dozen intricate plot points. But it was very well made from the BBC from 1995.

Now, from my sister's library, my daughter and I have only one movie left - Emma.

Working on writing and I think  - one is never done. It is something that you must at one point just say, "This is all I will do on it for now. It is time to set it aside."  Will read it through 3 more times before the contest. My editor is painstakingly going through it - asking all sorts of important clarifications. She is wonderful.


And then however it turns out, I am sending it in to the contest and then will wait to see what happens.

It turns out to write a very bad book takes a lot of time. To write a good book takes even more. I wonder which category I'm in.  Until next week.


  

Jane Austen movies, day gown, and writing

Watched Pride and Prejudice this weekend. The 6 hour version from the 1995 British Television Program with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth, and the movie version with Keira Knightley from 2005. Both were wonderful.

So since I was on a roll thought I would try and watch the British Television Program for Persuasion, my all-time favorite book from Jane Austen. Perhaps, it is because there is so many intricate stories that make up the whole story that caused the program to fall flat.

Or it could be because I know every detail of the book and feel not one iota of it should be changed. But it was not to my liking. I have resisted watching any versions of it due to the above reasons and I see now that I was correct to do so.

Back to my writing adventure. There is only 7 weeks until the contest deadline. Everyday I work on two or three chapters. Every week, my editor asks questions like - Are you sure a Navy battle would have shrapnel injuries.

Researching has been so much easier to do with the internet. I should try to verify what I read in a couple of places but time has me finding what I need to know and moving on. 

Reading Emma by Jane Austen

 I tried once again to read Emma by Jane Austen. I don't know what it is about that book, but I just can't get through it. Perhaps, it is because Emma at 22 seems to think she knows everything. Maybe it is because everyone around Emma with the exception of Mr. Knightly seems to think Emma knows everything, too.

For whatever reason, I read half-way through and just couldn't take her machinations one minute longer.

I'm not a wimp when it comes to reading. After all, I've read Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky

  

Out of the two, I would read the latter rather than the former.

I know some people that just love this book. I ask them why and they say the same thing every time. Emma is funny. But Emma messes with people's lives, so it doesn't seem funny to me. 

I know, I know. Books are not real. Enjoy. Maybe when I try again next year. 

God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land. Psalm 68:6