What If Jane Austen Lived Now?

Well, first we know she would have a very creative blog ;)  She would dress very chic, like no other blogger out there and she would be the best seller in romantic novels.

With the advent of health products, Jane would have been able to live past the young age she died and we would have been inundated by stories from a more mature Jane who had at least a few encounters with men and these light affairs, albeit non-contact, would have been integrated into her later stories.  I think she still would have been a lady, confident and what many call an old maid or a prude when it came to relationships with men.

She would still have kept herself out of the public's eye and kept fresh from any ridicule, been well loved by her captive audience for her sweet nature and maintain her innocence when looking through the eyes of romance.

Now with that being said, how would have Pride and Prejudice turned out from eyes of the society of England in our time from Jane Austen's point of view?  Would we be reading that story in 2213?  It seems that stories by now have all been told and to see Pride and Prejudice written for the first time in 2013, it may become lost in much of the thousands of books published every year.  It would have to be heavily marketed or have a very unique outlook on the high society of England with a movie coming out soon to give it that added exposure and audience.

Seeing a Pride and Prejudice for the first time ever in our decade, Jane would have already had her audience and written other books in other words, in order for Pride and Prejudice to have the impact it has now, she would have to be a Danielle Steele or a Nicolas Spark ladies hungering for a new release for it to even be recognized.

What type of story would it have been?  What about the couples falling in love with no contact and then getting married after just meeting? I think to have the innocence and quick rushes to the altar without even dating in our age would be hard to swallow.  It would have to be a part of that society where courting was acceptable without necessarily dating before taking the plunge, which I did so in my update in "Black Pride".

A second thing I found that doesn't translate well to our century is that everyone was in a rush before they were 20 to be married off or they were going to die. The fact we live longer these days than in Austen's century, I had to move my character's age into her late 30s where desperation of not being married may have more relevance.  Even now, being unmarried in your late 20 is not an "old maid" as Charlotte had said she was.

And thirdly, what I found didn't merge into our century was the fact nobody had outside interest.  As many critics say of the novel, it's just a book about women walking around in rooms and talking about relationships.  This was befitting superbly rich inheritance babies.  Even now, Paris Hilton has found her calling in fashion bags and reality shows.  They would all have their own businesses and actually work taking a lot of the scrutiny of just focusing on relationships.

When rewriting I was shocked that this was the only things that I found hesitation with when bringing Elizabeth and the gang to our time in black society.  That's pretty darn good for a 200-year old tale.  The book even has "call" someone and "ring" the door that translates with ease in the advent of the iPod.

I think Jane wishes that she could do an update or a sequel with her story getting greater buzz than billion dollar movies premiering   I hope I do her proud.  I won't even begin to publish until I get the best draft I can.  An artist is never finished with a masterpiece, they just know when it's time to share it with the world and soon that time will come.

Enjoy your rocking weekend everyone and thank you for coming along for the ride!  Think you know what you would do with your update of Pride and Prejudice, let us know what you would add or take away...see you next Saturday!

XX,
Denise Rochelle

Update: "All Men Want Is Sex"

Can you believe this?  "All men want is one thing." How old do you think this person is that makes this kind of statement?  Well, I was just recently told this by a family member this week.  This person always downs men because of the heartbreak they incurred through life.  On the other hand, the person NEVER once has ever said what they have done wrong in these relationships.  Does this sound like someone of 20, 30, how about 40?  I actually heard this from a 60 year old.  This argument in the black community is just getting too old, because I don't stand for this anymore in my life and for a long time. 

What was my response to this person?  Do you actually think that you can have a sensible conversation with someone with so much baggage?  I tried to say that people bring into their life what they say others are.  That's all I could get out to say`before the backlash.  In her case she has some daddy issues.  The man has been dead for over 40 years and she still can't get over it.

Are there black men that are no good?  Just as much as there are black women who kill their men.  Where does this get us going but  back and forth, black people.

I am a strong believer, sister n' brothers in the law of attraction.  You think there are only negrods out in the universe all that will you attract are chickenheads.  Also, what I have witnessed is a woman who has a good man becomes embittered by what she believes he is not fulfilling her needs and her low energy level perpetuates non-existent threats to her relationship or being. To defend her Black Pride, she take it out on a good man and turn him into exactly what she feared.  Can you see Michelle Obama having these little girl issues with Barrack?  If she does, she kept her insecure emotions in check and backed her man up into the White House.

I believe you get what you put out, and you get what you think period.  So, Dr. Rochelle here prescribes every woman who says this mess to just start saying, 'I don't care what type of men are out there for the other women because I am a faithful, heavenly creature of God and He has a man just like me waiting for me if I just believe.' That's rockstar quality and even if he shows up at your death bed, he will show up, probably bring you back to life.  This is how I always thought and looking back, I had a few fakers who got through, but they respected a sister before they were found out.
The universe protects a positive mind. 

Anyway, my focus in Black Pride isn't going to go to that extreme, but I do have one character who is a little wild and a friend of the Elizabeth character who is a jaded divorcee twice removed like my family member above.  She'll be making an appearance for two separate scenes to mimic this kind of character.  If any of you have watched Why Did I get Married, and you remember the buck wild Angela character, she will be as wild as her.

How was my writing week?  Horrible.  Just disgraceful.  I am not in the writer's environment.  I remember J K Rowling's interview with Oprah after she had finished her last book.  She was in this castle-like hotel room where she was able to get away from the raucous of her family home to concentrate on writing.  Also, in her beginning writing career, she would go to little nooks, and cafes.  No, I'm around family noise, senseless interruptions, music etc.

But I being a good veteran, I try to keep my word.  So, your reward for coming here today, I just posted the full epilogue which is the second revision.  So take a look.  It needs a lot of work.  It is sort of my assignment/schedule to post it at a certain time to keep motivated in a very unmotivated environment.

Well, for this next week, I'll return on Saturday and hopefully by then I will have more to report about my writing endeavor and encounters.

Have a peaceful week,
Denise Rochelle M.