In the past few months, I have been thinking about relationships, particularly friendships. Each of us has groups of friends. Some of them we met through family; some at church, school, or work; and others through our interests. Some friend groups crossover and some have never met. There are those friends that we attend specific events with but rarely see otherwise, and there are those who are closer than some family members.
I think this train of thought began when I went to see Sense and Sensibility at the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, Virginia, and I was trying to decide how to mention it in a blog.
My friend, Andrea, (a former coworker and writing group member) also went with me the previous year to see Pride and Prejudice at this recreation of Shakespeare’s Blackfriars’ Playhouse.
(Fingers-crossed that another Austen rendition will be on the 2026 summer schedule so we can continue our streak.) She and I have attended plays at the local university, and I think we met up at a Great Lives Lecture on Emma. When I want to do anything intellectual, Andrea is the first person I reach out to. She also joined the Regency Society of Virginia with me so we can attend Regency teas. We don’t limit ourselves to Regency/Austen related events and have attended several musicals at the regional theater as well.
My recent thoughts have been focused on the relationships that I have found as a writer. As a prior officer of my writing group, I try to stay active in our local writing community. The support and welcome that I have found (and hopefully passed along to others) has been overwhelming. There is no competition between writers because we each have our own story and there is room for more than one version on a theme. And that leads me to JAFF.
I published my first Pride and Prejudice variation in 2015 after posting the story on a fanfiction site. The response I received from both readers and other writers meant so much to me. I was dipping my toe in a strange new pond and found the water warm and welcoming.
In the years that followed, I was invited to join blog sites and even participated in the JAFF Writer/Reader Get Togethers (in-person and virtually).
I have reached out to other authors with questions and requests for assistance. Always, the responses were positive, helpful, and more than I ever expected.
When we look at Jane Austen’s work, we see all sorts of friendships. Sister-besties like Jane and Elizabeth Bennet, Lydia and Kitty Bennet, and Elinor and Marianne Dashwood; mentor-like friendships like Charlotte Lucas and Elizabeth Bennet, Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley, and Emma Woodhouse and Harriett Smith;
and false friendships like Mary Crawford and Fanny Price, Lucy Steele and Elinor Dashwood, and Isabella Thorpe and Catherine Morland. Austen showed us the best of ourselves and the worst. She gave us models to emulate and ones to avoid. In this, like in her romances, she created lifelike individuals whose characteristics we recognize in ourselves and in those around us.
Several times over the last ten years, my husband has asked me if I will ever write anything else. There have been non-JAFF projects here and there that I have played with, but nothing that has made it to fruition. I guess, for this period of my life at least, I am content with the relationships I have built with characters, readers, and writers of this amazing global community. Thank you for allowing me to contribute my little bits and pieces to the fabulous JAFF tapestry.
Leave a Reply