Working through some things

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I pinned this pin to my "A Novelist at Work" board on Pinterest because I think it is an interesting concept as an inspiring writer but in my personal life this quote has hit me...

I am struggling. This semester I am writing my thesis, well I am suppose to be writing my thesis... but I am not really motivated to do the research for it because right now the research seems like an overwhelming mountain that I will never be able to climb. Also 2 weeks ago my thesis adviser was discouraging. So I spent all last week sulking and watching The West Wing. I don't regret it because I needed some time to just do nothing... but now it is hard to get back up and do some work.

One of my favorite scenes from The West Wing

A lot of this week and weekend I have thought about giving up and just not doing it. I have a ll the credits to get just my Master's in Library Science, but unless I finish my thesis I will not be able to get my Master's in History and I would have felt that all this time would have been a waste. But giving up would be so easy.

Looking back on my life... I think I give up a lot, when things get tough. I mean I gave up soccer because one time a ball hit me in the stomach (I know I was 5 but I think this is a good pattern of things to come). 

Going back to the picture on the top... I think if I was an Austen heroine the short come would be my giving up when things got tough an then living with regret.

As for the man, she would write for me... I am not really thinking about that. However, I think what ever man comes into my life will have to be strong as I can be stubbornness. He will have to understand that when I am quiet and I don't want to talk that I am weak and he will have to know to just sit there and be with me. I think he will also have to encourage me to be my best and not let me give up on myself. But according to Buzzfeed.com,  I belong with Edward Ferras. Having always felt like an Eleanor... I am happy with this result. 

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Shy and sweet, Edward can give you a simple, happy life. You can count on him to do the right thing, even if it’s not always what he wants to do. While you might face hurdles on your road to Happily Ever After, it will all work out in the end.

Right now still working through some things. 

6 degrees of separation in period dramas

If you have been reading this blog long enough you know I have an obsession for Jane Austen, Dan Stevens, and other period dramas so I often play "6 degrees of separation" with these obsessions so here you go...

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Colin Firth acted with Julia Sawalha in Pride and Prejudice.Julia Sawalha was Lydia Bennet who liked to make to trouble and she grew up to be Dorcas Lane in Lark Rise to Candleford, who loves to meddled causing trouble. 

Brendan Coyle and Claudie Blakley
in Lark Rise to Candleford.

In the show Lark Rise to Candleford Julia Sawalha acted with Brendan Coyle.Before Brendan Coyle was the stubborn but wise Robert Timmins he played the stubborn but wise Nicholas Higgins in North and South with Richard Armitage. 

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After playing Robert Timmins, Brendan Coyle went on to play Mr. Bates in Downton Abbey with Dan Stevens. 

Brendan Coyle as both Mr. Bates and Robert Timmins 

Before Dan Stevens played the lovable Matthew Crawley he played the lovable Edward Ferrars in a version of Sense and Sensibility with Hattie Morahan.

 

Fan made video of Edward and Elinor

Hattie Morahan also made a guest appearance on Lark Rise to Candleford. 

 Lark Rise to Candleford also stars Claudie Blakley who played Charlotte Lucas in Pride and Prejudice (2005) with Matthew MacFayden. 

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Lark Rise also features Victoria Hamilton, who was also featured in Mansfield Park starring Jonny Lee Miller as Edward Bertram. Jonny Lee Miller also plays Mr. Knightley in Emma. 

Victoria Hamilton is on the right 

Jonny Lee Miller and Romola Garai in Emma proposal scene 

Romola Garai stars in a lot of period dramas including Daniel Deronda, which stars Hugh Bonneville who is also featured in lots in of period dramas. She also worked with Reese Witherspoon in Vanity Fair. 

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Reese Witherspoon has starred in numerous films, but sticking with the period drama theme... she starred in The Importance of Being Earnest with Colin Firth. 

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Woo lots of connections... and I know this  post has gotten long but I think there two good side notes.

1) Going back to North and South it features Anna Maxwell Martin, who also is in Becoming Jane

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and we all know who stars in Becoming Jane

Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy
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2) Going back to Lark Rise which also stars Ruby Bentall 

who is also in The Paradise currently featured on PBS Masterpiece

Hope you enjoy all this wonderful period dramaness

P.S. I have wanted to do this post for awhile... so I am glad to finally post it. 

No ryme or reason... just love

Hello lovely readers,

I have posted some deep blog post so to lighten the mood I thought I would post this cheesy period drama montage video. I am kind of a closet "fan-video loving girl". When I fall in love with a movie, or TV show I love seeking out these fan-video music videos. I am going to say it is my hopeful romantic side that still wants to hold on to the story and not let it go, however it is probably just my geeky side.  

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It is funny as much as I love the love stories, I am more and more starting to appreciate the hero or heroine's journey(as the case may be). I have given my friend some books of mine to read and she gotten annoyed at me because the last few I have given her (I capture the Castle and A Northern Light) do not have the typical romantic ending. In fact the heroine leaves the "hero" of the story to have a very independent life. She thinks it is odd that I have such strong hopeful romantic feelings. I told her "I am giving her heroines that are strong that settle for nothing but the best in life." I have a very deep heart for love and sappiness but I think the only way to have true love is not to settle for anything but perfection. I know love will not be perfect (I am not expecting a Disney movie), I know it is hard work, but I also know that love should not feel like settling. I can watch sappy movies but at the end of the day the love stories I admire are the ones where the characters grow and empower themselves. So I am still on the look out for these heroines...

Some I highly recommend (highly bias but in no particular order)
Cassandra- I Capture the Castle
Molly Gibson- Wives and Daughters
Elinor Dashwood- Sense and Sensibility
Amy Dorrit- Little Dorrit
Fiona- The Tea Rose
Hadassah- A Voice in the Wind and Echo in the Darkness
Shelby Parker- The Princess
Mattie- A Northern Light
Fanny Price- Mansfield Park

Cassandra from I Capture the Castle
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I do not have a post for today...

Hello lovely readers, 

Ever since school has ended I have been trying to post almost every two days but I am sorry to say I do not have a post today. Well I am not really that sorry because I have been actively working on my story. I hope you will be patient with me. In the mean time here is a good fan made video of dancing scenes to the song The Laendler (you might recognize the song from Sound of Music). I do so like watching dancing scenes.

Posted by: MissAspka

In order of movie appearance:

- Becoming Jane
- Emma (BBC 2009)
- The Sound of Music
- Anne of Green Gables (The Sequel)
- The Young Victoria
- Pride & Prejudice (2005)
- Stardust
- Anne of Green Gables
- Onegin--- This is the only one I had not seen. 
- The King & I
- Pride & Prejudice (BBC 1995)
- Daniel Deronda
- North & South
- Sense & Sensibility (1995)
- Emma (1996)

I need to read up on some Edwardian dancing so I can write a good dance scene. I really only know the Waltz.

Will post more later.

Lessons from Jane Austen

I found this post through Pinterest and loved the thoughts behind it.

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1. Turn your hobby into your career

As a young girl, Jane Austen wrote stories and plays for her family for entertainment. She presented a different and very honest kind of voice during a time when more books were coming out, but they were of lesser quality. Austen was clearly giving the world some quality work (I mean, does quality work get turned into a modern day rom-com?).

To see more click here

An example from the movie Becoming Jane of Jane Austen's writing as a hobby. 

I love seeing how much Jane Austen  has inspired people around the world. She is not just an author of love stories but if you give her a chance she brings out the best in people.  I love the first lesson from this post of turning a hobby into your career.

On Friday I was getting coffee with my friend, we come from different back grounds and we have different passions and I think our passions bring us together. We admit we are both geeky but I think everyone as there geeky parts... some people geek out over video games, others geek out over Broadway musicals, and a lot people geek out about sports. But the point of it is to find a passion and pursue it.

So many times I consider her my inspiration for my writing. I mean I literally used her story of Sense and Sensibility as a basis of my story Sisters in Pine Haven. She had a heart to write about every day things or interactions and make them special. Her stories have lasted through generations and have been re-made and updated. For Example:

Jane Austen and the modern girl 

I know I can only hope to as inspirational as her... but I do so want to make an impact in this world, rather it be in my writing or doing my best to live out my faith.

To read more on how Jane Austen has inspired me read A Jane Austen Heroine

Starting over

Before you read this post read Note to Readers

My dear Anne,

So my dearest Anne, first of all let me tell you some things about myself. I am in grad-school and it is my last "traditional" semester of Grad school and in the fall I will be writing my thesis and doing a long internship. I am looking forward to doing research (as I actually find it fun) but I feel like I am trudging through this semester. It is like grad school senioritis. I'd rather be doing anything but my homework. Actually what I want to be doing is writing my own stories. I sometimes wished I had pursued creative writing instead... though maybe if I had pursued it in school I would not like it so much. Writing is my escape... but right now I feel like I want to escape a lot. Not that anything is seriously going on, I just don't want to be doing school work. I know school will soon be over and I will be able to write and read whatever I want (oh what a glorious day that will be).

Glorious
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Some other things about me that you should know are my obsessions. If you want to get close to me you should know I get very passionate and hold somethings close to my heart. I love being an aunt and probably might have a little unhealthy addicted to my niece and nephew. I don't think it is unhealthy but I am sure my friends/co-workers who I talk to do.

Some time being an auntie over Christmas

I am also a hopeful romantic. I not only love love stories but I have idealistic views of the ideas of chivalry and  men purely pursuing a woman. I think in that I have a deep love of historical fictions. I get very swept in the idealistic view I have of the past. As I mentioned in my post below I just love the idea of wearing fancy dresses, going to balls, and attending eloquent dinners. I think I want to crawl inside and live in a Jane Austen novel or Downton Abbey. Of course having read Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict... I know it is not so glamorous as  I think. Also Mary Crawley talked about how women don't have a life and that they are just stuck in the waiting room for marriage. So maybe the past is not as great as I imagine it to be but I still hold this idealistic view of the ages gone by.

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Sometimes I think if I were to be a character in a Jane Austen or Downton Abbey-ish story I would think I would be an Edith (but nicer) or an Anne Elliot from Persuasion (maybe that is where I got your name). I am the middle daughter with both sisters married and I the useful aunt. I feel that is a role I could do well... if I wasn't a 1,000 miles away from my niece and nephew. I have tried writing a story like that but it seemed "too woe is me" so I didn't want to continue it. I think I am Elinor but I want the passion of Marianne but heck if I could get a man like Dan Stevens to marry me that would be great.

Dan Stevens as Edward Ferras
in the A&E version of Sense and Sensibility
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I do think it is quite obvious that I have a love for the idea of love. As Carrie Bradshaw once said "a deep consuming, can't live with out you love" and that is what I seek after. So I will probably fill my letters with my hopeful romantic ideals and all that is entailed in that.

Besides my niece/nephew, grad-school, and my romantic ideals I will also use this time to write about my faith. To fill you in lately I have felt somewhat of a void in my life with grad-school, going home for Christmas and then having my mom visiting I could cover it up but then when things slowed down a bit I felt empty. As much as I felt I was keeping God in my life somehow I had floated away from Him. I don't think I was letting Him in to the real stuff and keeping our relationship at a very surface level. I am also trying to keep remind myself that no matter how I feel He is here with me. To do this I am trying to memorize scripture I did not do so well last week so my verse is the same...

Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;
my hope comes from him.
 He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
My salvation and my honor depend on God;
he is my mighty rock, my refuge.
Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge.

-Psalm 62:5-8 (NIV 1984).

I think this has been a pretty good letter so I will let you go. Thank you for reading my letter Anne. Please write and tell me how you are doing.

Yours,

Blaire

P.S. I will write more and share with how my writing is coming along. Sharing my writing with you on my last story kept me quite motivated in finishing it. Thank you for your support.