Ardent Admirer, Monica
I come from a long line of tradespeople (you probably just gave me the ‘cut direct’ didn’t you?). I live in the northern KY/Cincinnati OH area but I will always be a Carolina girl at heart. I have a small but close-knit family and I relish my role as spinster aunt to my nieces and nephew (well, the ‘aunt’ part…the ‘spinster’ part, not so much); they are my pride and joy. I’m still hoping my Mr. Darcy will pop out of a pond one day when I least expect it, already Hunsfordized and ready to go 😉
I have a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and I hope to eventually go back to grad school. My dream’ job would be as a forensic psychologist/profiler. I love trying to figure out what makes people tick and why they do things. Currently I work for a major retail chain and I can tell you that the stench of that trade is often foul, indeed.
My favorite pastime is attempting to compromise rich men hoping they’ll marry me and elevate my status to gentlewoman. When I’m not thus occupied, I enjoy a variety of music, singing very ill, Cincinnati Reds baseball, volunteering, going to the library, animals (though I don’t have any) and making people laugh. In the words of my friend, Miss Elizabeth Bennet, “Follies and nonsense, whims and inconsistencies do divert me, I own, and I laugh at them whenever I can.”
I’m a daydreamer, a chatterbox, a cynical optimist,a procrastinator extraordinaire, and a complete goofball. I collect Eeyores and snowglobes, and I also like putting things in parentheses (if you’ve not yet noticed). I’ve not done much traveling but I would love to go to Italy and the UK someday. And oh yes! I love to read! Besides Austen/Austenesque books, I enjoy other historical fiction, paranormal fiction and mystery/thrillers. If one can find a way to combine all these things, I am very happy, indeed! My favorite place to read outdoors is in a local park, which has a lovely view of Cincinnati across the river. Due to the insane summer heat, I’ve not been there recently (alas, my settee has the derrière-imprints to prove it).
I fell in love with the world of Jane Austen and Austen fanfiction just a few years ago, after I crawled out from the rock under which I’d been living. I had never read her works, and I’d never even heard of fanfiction before that. After re-watching THE P&P film – ’95 of course…is there another? 😉 – and stumbling across a list of fanfiction at the library, it got me wondering why all these people were writing stories about Darcy and Lizzy. So I took home Austen’s Pride & Prejudice, and Abigail Reynolds’ Impulse & Initiativeand I was hooked from that day. Stalking (erm, frequently visiting) Abigail’s website paid off, leading me to Austen Authors and other online story sites.
My favorite of Austen’s works is Pride & Prejudice but I am coming to love and appreciate her other works almost as much. I love her wit and timeless characters. There’s always something new to be discovered, some new viewpoint to be discussed. (If you must know, I still haven’t made it around to Emmaor Lady Susan or The Watsons. But I will.) I’m a full-fledged Darcyholic and I never ever get tired of the love story that is Darcy and Elizabeth. “My” Darcy is somewhat of a mixture of Colin Firth, Kellan Lutz, Henry Cavill, and Reds’ first baseman Joey Votto. Yummy, huh? I love the Regency culture, customs, language, etc. Such gentility and manners and fashion, yet with an undercurrent of rakes and scoundrels, scandal, and other unsavory elements. I’d love to have a Regency-themed room in my house, along with a Pemberley-sized library, of course.
I keep an Austen fanfiction spreadsheet of all the published works I’ve read and wish to read. It’s alphabetized by author, highlighted if I’ve read it, and asterisk-ed if I own it. If my count is correct, I am up to 105 highlights and 77 asterisks. I read stories online, as well, and keep a separate list of favorites for that. I’m not an Austen purist by any means and will give almost anything a try, as long as it has a happy ending. I read one that did not and I literally cried for the whole day. I even read the torturous WIP. I always say I won’t start any more, but I do. Willpower, like brevity – not my forte. I haven’t written any fanfiction of my own, yet, but I always have ideas swirling around in my mind, and I’ve made a few scribbles, so one never knows!
So, that’s me, in a nutshell. I am beyond excited for Austenesque Extravaganza and I thank Meredith for asking me to participate and Angie K for all her help 🙂 I don’t know that there’s anything special to distinguish me from other Janeites but I’m happy to have been so warmly welcomed into the Austen community. It really is a “the more, the merrier” sort of place. I consider myself a rookie, an acolyte, and I learn so many new things and get so much entertainment every day from you all and for that, I thank you!
CONNECT WITH MONICA:
- on Twitter @jaffobsession
Wow, you sound so awesome 😉 I had seen your username around fanfic sites, so it’s nice to see a face to the name 🙂
Happy Austenesque Extravaganza!
Rosefire15
twitter:Rosefire15
Nice meeting you 😀
Cool a degree in psychology! I must watch what I say ;D
blodeuedd83 twitter
Nice to meet you, Monica!
Wouldn’t it be great if all of our Darcy’s came pre-Hunsfordized? BTW, I love your spreadsheet idea, especially with the online stories. Sometimes, I’ll stare at a title and think, “Wait, did I read that already?”
Heather M.
hmoll(at)nycap(dot)rr(dot)com
Nice to know you, Monica. Wow, you have a list of all Austenesque titles? You do have a brilliant systematic approach to Janeite fandom. Could you must share it with us? I only keep book covers and the list that Meredith share on her blog.
evangelineace2020[at]yahoo[dot]com
Nice to meet you Monica!
samjaymc[at]gmail[dot]com
It is so nice to meet you Monica! It seems that we are neighbors since I am from the Northern Cincinnati area. We may have even passed each other at Books by the Banks!:) Lovely video and post!!
kellik115(at)yahoo(dot)com
You ROCK, Monica!!
Hi! A very organized fan you are–I am inspired!:)
~Cara
Monica, you sound so organised! I follow you on twitter, you point me in the direction of loads of interesting Austen related stuff, so THANK YOU! I am @frawli1978 on twitter altho I am still not entirely sure how it works! As you can see I am not massively keen on (brackets) but my favoured punctuation is the good ole exclamation mark!!!
I like exclamation marks too!!! Lol thank you for the twitter follow – I just followed you back. I never thought I’d use twitter but now I find it quite fun, and I’ve “met” a lot of great people on there. The only reason I signed up was for Meredith’s AE tweet chats last year. Now she has her own chatroom and I’m looking forward to trying it out.
It occurred to me, one of the other ladies said what her fave Austen-inspired story was, do you have a favourite from what you’ve read? I’ve been reading the fan-fiction too, some of it is fabulous.
Also, do you prefer stories set in the Regency or modern Austen-inspired stuff?
We have lots of things in common 😀 Thanks for sharing all that with us 😀
Twitter: @Austenite78
Thanks for reading and commenting, Cinta. I enjoy your tweets and every time someone annoys me on twitter, your “My Twitter, My Rules” pops into my mind. Lol
“My favorite pastime is attempting to compromise rich men hoping they’ll marry me and elevate my status to gentlewoman”–Funny, that’s my favorite pastime too! 😀
araminta18 at gmail dot com
Thanks Araminta – a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do, right? 😉
oh my gosh you have read so many of these books in few years !! incredible !and you are well organized which is good 😀
it is rea;;y good that you enjoy so mcuh yourself !
i heard of cincinnati it looks like anice place
It is a nice place, I enjoy it here. It’s a city but not too big and scary. I haven’t been able to read nearly as much this year as I had in the past. And I’m trying to force myself to read a little slower so I can actually remember more of what I read. I get so swept up in them that I stay up all night and feel like a zombie the next day.
I like the idea of your spreadsheet of fanfiction. I need to do that. There is so much out there I can’t keep up.
robynsnestAT bellsouth DOT net
I know what you mean. I know I’ll never get caught up on my list, and I *definitely* won’t be able to buy them all but I have caught myself about to buy a book I already had, so the list can be helpful.
Thanks for commenting, Robyn!
I enjoyed reading your background and how you came to Jane Austen. I keep a list too, but only of books for a wishlist. I’m a huge baseball fan myself, but alas, not for the Reds.
Thanks for your fun post!
Sophia
sophiarose1816(at)gmail(dot)com
Who’s your team, Sophia? Please don’t say the Cardinals! Lol I think I would enjoy going to any baseball game even if it wasn’t the Reds. I just like the atmosphere.
Thanks for reading my post 🙂
You are definately a familiar name around the Austen sites. Thank you for sharing your story. It is incredible how, once Austen gets a hold of you, it all snowballs from there! Great post!!!
Thanks Becky. Austen blog-hopping used to be my way of unwinding after work but now I find myself looking at various things in the morning, on my lunch break, tweeting on the down-low at work, etc. I feel like it’s an anomaly when I read something that isn’t Austenesque now. (Though I am reading Lauren Kate’s “Rapture” at the moment).
email:
cherringtonmb at sbcglobal dot net
Great post, Monica!
Thanks, Wendi! I was really nervous about it but it’s fun.
I always enjoying learning about other’s reading habits and why they read what they read. Love the view from your favorite reading spot. BTW, I’m now following you on Twitter!
Thanks, I think I am following you as well. Austenesque has sort of hijacked my reading time but I do like other things too 😉 It just depends what I’m in the mood for. Could be Shakespeare, could be Twilight. Lol I do have a collection of autobiographical Holocaust survivor stories, which some people find weird, but I find them incredibly inspiring, that someone could go through the worst things imaginable and live to tell about it.
Thanks so much! Happy AE to you as well! Do you post stories on FF.Net? Your username sounds familiar.
Nah, Blodeuedd, don’t filter what you say – goodness knows I usually don’t! 😉 Lol Though, I have to say that being on twitter has helped me watch my language more. I don’t want my Janeite friends to think ill of me for my potty-mouth.
Thanks for reading my post!
It would be great, wouldn’t it? It’d take the drama out of things, I guess, but drama is usually much more romantic when it’s happening to fictional characters.
I like that some story sites let you save your favorites so they’re easy to find again.
Thanks for commenting!
Hi Luthien! When I was writing up this post I attempted to create a Google Doc of my list, so people could see it better, but I kept having technical difficulties. Next time I’m on a PC (likely tomorrow), I will give it a try again.
Meredith’s list is great, too, and really helpful because it’s sorted by type. I remember writing down titles she had on her list that I didn’t have.
Thanks, Samantha!
Patkf2007[at]hotmail[dot]com
Patricia Finnegan
Twitter LOSTfan2011
Following on Twitter now! Very interested in reading some of your works 🙂
Thanks, I will be sure to look you up. As far as my writing, I have to warn you that you could be waiting a reeeeeallly long time, Patricia. Lol But I’ll try. I have a couple different ideas I’ve jotted down first chapters and rough outlines for but not much more. I’ve been thinking of participating in NaNoWriMo this November just to see if it’s possible to stretch a plot bunny to 50K words.
Yay, a Cincinnatian! Or should I say “Austen-atian” lol This year’s BBtB should be coming up again sometime in October, I think. It was great to meet Regina Jeffers and Carrie Bebris last year and I’m looking forward to going again.
Thanks for commenting!
Thanks, Angie, for putting the video together for me, and for your encouragement. I hope you’re having a wonderful time down at the Decatur Book Festival. Wish I was there!
Thank you, Cara. It sounds so funny to hear me described as “organized” because I’m soooooo NOT, with most things. Lol for some reason I just like to make lists of things. If there’s a job out there for a professional list-maker, I want it!
Interesting LA! Thanks for sharing!
EGAD! Where did this comment come from??? (I must have been sleep surfing!)
Anyhooo, MONICA, I’m in awe of the whole spread-sheet idea. I’ll have to try that. I do keep up with my books on GoodReads, but with all the series that I read, it might just be easier to do a Google doc. We are neighbors too, I live a little south of Lexington, so of course, we are big Red fans. I simply must ask-what is Books by the Banks?
BBtB was a book festival they had in downtown Cincinnati last October. Lots of authors selling and signing and chatting with people, and they had author panels where you could ask questions. They’re supposed to be having it again this year but I cant find a definitive date online.
I’ll have to watch for it–I try to go to the Kentucky Book Fair in Frankfort. It is always held in November. Seems like someone was telling me about one in southern/central Ohio, that sounded really good. I think it was held in the spring.
I enjoyed your post a great deal.
Fun to hear of your JA journey! Thanks!
Monica, You are more than just a fan. You are a major supporter of the works of Austen Authors. I never have to worry about a post on Austen Authors. I know I will get at least one comment from you. You are beyond terrific. I’m thrilled to get to know more about you. One quibble: The Reds really took it to the AZ Diamondbacks. I didn’t appreciate that. 🙂
Aww thank you Mary! You’re always so sweet to me and I just love AuAu. You never know what you’re gonna get there but it’s always fun.
I wish I could say I was sorry about the whole Diamondback situation but alas, I cannot. 😉
I am beyond impressed with your organization skills. I’ve thought of trying a spreadsheet to keep my JAFF organized, but settled for a notebook (and even that I can’t keep updated). Also, you have a great writing style and I’d love to read something more from you.
Ooh, forgot if this is needed
colleenday[at]hotmail[dot]com
Thank you. I scribble lots of stuff in my notebook, too. Then later it’s too messy for me to even decipher.
Nice to meet you, Monica! I’m from Argentina, and although we live so far away, we have lots of things in common. Love Austen and Regency Period… I’m also a daydreamer.
Thanks for your great post!
Patricia
patperezmiguel (at) yahoo ( dot) com
Ooh, Argentina! I love that Janeites are everywhere.
Okay, once you have completed the list, let me know. Thanks a lot for the effort spend and sharing it on Google Docs. 🙂
“I’m still hoping my Mr. Darcy will pop out of a pond one day when I least expect it, already Hunsfordized and ready to go ;)” ~~ Love it!
I enjoyed your very witty post, nice to “meet” another Austen lover!
Felicia
felicalso @gmail. com
Haha yes, pointing out all their flaws is the easy part, making them want to change and please my every whim…not so much! Imagine that. 😉
Nice to meet you Monica!
I really enjoyed your post and you are very good at making people laugh:) I hope someday share with us your P&P fiction. And i don’t mind “waiting a reeeeeallly long time”, because I think my obsession with Jane Austen and Austenesque world will be still alive by that time:)
And I like your impressive library a lot!
oloore at gmail dot com
Thanks! I’ll have to devote more time to writing something. It never seems quite as good on paper as it does in my head and I’m always afraid it’ll be cheesy.
I think Jane will always be loved, and hopefully with all the self-publishing going on now, Austenesque will not be a passing fancy.
Hi Monica! I loved your video! Good job! And your spreadsheet is impressive!! Holy cow! I could never be that organized.
I’m so glad we’ve become friends through twitter (you always make me laugh, and I dearly love to laugh). I enjoyed getting to know more about you on here. Thanks for your post!
Thanks Candy! Angie has to get credit for the video – I’m not technogically savvy enough to put one together! I’ve really enjoyed becoming friends with you as well.
Oh my goodness are you witty, funny, chatty and creative. I have to say I loved your comments from the get go. brevity not my forte, a long line of tradespeople and the cut direct….whoohoo ….great. I guess I feel I’m the same. I love that you’re so attached to your family and that you volunteer. I also love music, dancing, and singing (tho’ I sing very ill indeed as well)I started the whole spreadsheet type thing as well but more in graph form and a slight bit more detailed. I forget what I read so I have a brief description or who recommended it to me. After a few hundred however I can say I’ve gotten sidetracked and lost track and gave up. I lol at reading your description of the whole thing. I thought only I was that obsessive..smiles. It was great to meet you and I look forward to getting to know you better.
Picture this in graph form:
AUTHOR BOOK TITLE SOURCE RATING H, SW, W FAN SITES or general comments
Adams, Alexa First Impressions: A Tale of wanted long time P&P redo, great H I had on wish list, had to get, great
Adams, Ellery A Killer Plot (Books by the Bay) writing style great, SW why oh why do they have to
Adriani, Susan Affinity and Affection (GW dastardly, Lydia nice, oral sx) Katie H preempt marriage vows being redone and 2 new whatifs due 2010
Yeah mine is really not very detailed as far as plot notes, but maybe it should be. I can remember which ones I’ve read and liked, but sometimes I’ll get a scene in my head and then I can’t remember which story it came from.
Thanks Suzan. I’m glad I made you laugh. I was nervous about doing this, that people would find it really boring.
I am curious if you analyze the characters in Austen’s books more since you got your degree in psychology.
drcopeland(at)hotmail(dot)com
(sorry if this posts twice, I didn’t see it after hitting the publish button)
Hooray! Excellent post! It’s always nice to meet others who appreciate the Austenesque.
Now I have finally found the time to comment onmy ardent admirar companions on this first September Saturday (without internet the whole weekend).
WOW, Monica! That is a very impressive list of books you have read and own! My shelf is not as big, but I´m aiming in this direction ;). But I´ll need some time to get there :D.
I like Danielle´s question about you profiling the characters more while reading. Are you a critical reader?
Thanks for sharing your story!
kewinkler at gmail dot com
Love your spreadsheet !
you are def an ardent admirer & I’m haPpY to have learned more about you !
All the Best on meeting up w/ your own Mr Darcy [popping out of the pond!] 🙂
Cheers to your part of Austenesque Extravaganza …;)
Danielle and Katrin –
No I’m not really a critical reader when I read JAFF, unless it’s a mystery. It’s more of an emotional thing. I’ll get sucked in and read really fast and some of the details I won’t even remember later. The psychology aspect is kind of fun when dealing with people like Mrs Bennet and Lydia and Wickham. In some stories they’re just selfish jerks but sometimes it’s more than that and I wonder, especially in modern stories, what’s really up with them.
Nice You Tube introduction! I especially like the picture of your Austen library.
I think you’ve picked a lovely place to read your Jane Austen. And ‘Covington’ sounds a bit British, doesn’t it?
Wonderful introduction and thank you for posting 🙂
I think I own about 26 Austen sequels, most published by Sourcebooks. A few days ago I was trying to figure out how many I had. Sometimes I get them through an interlibrary loan. Your spreadsheet sounds great. I make lists of books sometimes and can be a bit of a control freak that way. I like mysteries, too, and those are the kind of books that I mostly read.
I’m in Toledo so I’m not that far from you. Quite a few years back I visited Cincinnati and Newport and Covington, Kentucky. That was when the Newport Aquarium first opened.
Michelle Fidler
spookycat72(at)gmail(dot)com
Nice to meet you and enjoyed your post! Love the idea of putting all of those books into a spreasheet. I don’t know if that would help me or not…. I have WAY TOO MANY books to add into a spreadsheet…. WAIT?!?! Did I just say that “out loud”?? “Too many books”?!? Nobody can have “too many books”!?! Can they?!? Nahhh…. Didn’t think so!! 😉
Valerie R.
txreyn5663 (at) earthlink (dot) net
Love your post, Monica! I have all the faith that you will find your Mr. Darcy post Hunsfordized! And I am still intrigued by your spreadsheets!
Finally, I am still waiting for your first novel! What was your pen name again?
Nice to meet you Monica! I like your spreadsheet idea as well. I often forget which ones I have read. Amazon’s instant order update helps me with that lot 🙂 Thank you for a wonderful post! Lumee23 at gmail dot com
Hi Monica! You seem very nice and I really enjoyed your post. I hope you find “Your” Darcy someday but I warn you: It’s very difficult to find a mixture like that… but not impossible so fingers crossed!!!
newyorkgirl82(at)gmail(dot)com
Thanks for sharing with us. Pride & Prejudice is my favorite as well. I hope you have a great day.
crystal_dark[at]att[dot]net
Ooh, I love your spreadsheet idea! I may have to try that. I can never remember exactly which Sharon Lathan books I’ve read and which ones I haven’t, as I own a few and my library has a couple but they aren’t really in order. Nice to meet you!
liedermadchen(at)hotmail(dot)com
P&P is my favorite Jane Austen Book and I love reading variations and sequels to it.
castlefan[at]att[dot]net