Digging for Buried Treasure by Sophia Rose

As this is a new year and my first post of the said New Year, I thought I would share a bit about one of my personal resolutions. I am not afraid to make these even if I struggle to keep them (And no, that doesn’t make me a Wickham who makes friends, but struggles to keep them. Haha!).

I wrote a story some time ago and it had the distinction (insert dramatic wince here) of being my first novel-length story. I had just finished reading a certain Austen novel and a delightful ‘what if’ came to me. I had to write it down. Recently, I decided to pursue it and see if others might enjoy my flight of fancy in regard to Austen’s characters and story.
My resolution involves cleaning it up and trying to have it far along the road toward publication. I prefer to work in secrecy and I’m superstitious enough to think if I share details, etc that it will jinx me hence the vagueness about my story’s premise. I will say this much. It is an Austenesque and it is set in the Georgian period (or at least it will be when I know a bit more about the Georgians).

To that end, I am determined to pour over resources to learn what I can AKA Dig for treasure because to me that which is contained in books is treasure. I am far from the scholarly sort, but I find history fascinating so this is no hardship. I already have a small stack that I’ve put together and added a few more after Christmas. I couldn’t help myself and gravitated toward resources that involved my favorite novelist (you know who). I’ve taken the approach that if I’m to write Austenesque then I must know more of Austen and her world along with the era in which I will set my story. Perhaps wrong and narrow in my approach, but I’m flexible and can expand later. ‘Google’ and ‘library help desk’ are definitely in my vocabulary.

Here is a portion of my early research list (okay the Annotated books were a splurge, but hey, I can glean research notes there, too, right?)
Jane Austen’s England by Roy and Leslie Adkins
English Society in the Eighteenth Century by Roy Porter
The Annotated Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen and David Shapard
The Annotated Persuasion by Jane Austen and David Shapard
The Annotated Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen and David Shapard
A Visitor’s Guide to Jane Austen’s England by Sue Wilkes
What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist- the Facts of Daily Life in 19th-Century England by Daniel Poole (yes, I’m aware this is not the Georgian period, but there are references of comparing back to the Georgian vs the Regency)
Georgette Heyer’s Regency World by Jennifer Kloester (okay, well, this might have been another splurge)
The World of Jane Austen by Nigel Nicholson
The Friendly Jane Austen by Natalie Tyler
Jane Austen in Style by Susan Watkins

So that is one of my resolutions and I’m already hard at work on it (my legal pad is filling with notes that hopefully will make sense to me when I go back to reference them). If you are a writer, what is one of your goals for the year? If you’re a reader, did you make any bookish resolutions? Oh and if you know a solid resource for the late Georgian era, I’d love to know it. Do tell!

And just a few service announcements brought to you by the letter ‘W’. If you have that Christmas gift card burning a hole in your pocket then you might consider Meryton Press’ recent short-story winter holiday anthology release, Then Comes Winter.
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017V7XKDS/ref=x_gr_w_bb?ie=UTF8&tag=httpwwwgoodco-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B017V7XKDS&SubscriptionId=1MGPYB6YW3HWK55XCGG2
Barnes & Noble
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/then-comes-winter-christina-boyd/1122964167;jsessionid=B3598B89DD199B13D00EE73FEE7ECC47.prodny_store02-atgap09?ean=9781681310039

Annndddd…The Then Comes Winter World Tour giveaway is still ongoing through mid-February so pop in to check out where TCW has been and follow the link for your opportunity to win a well-travelled all author signed copy of Then Comes Winter and some fabulous additional prizes added at each tour stop along the way.
https://merytonpress.com/a-then-comes-winter-road-trip/

Sophia’s Bio:
Sophia is a quiet though curious gal who dabbles in cooking, book reviewing, and gardening. Encouraged and supported by an incredible man and loving family. A Northern Californian transplant to the Great Lakes Region of the US. Lover of Jane Austen, Baseball, Cats, Scooby Doo, and Chocolate. Writing has been a compelling need since childhood. Being published is a dream come true.
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