Jennifer Becton's Blog, page 47

Mr. Random Says

The winning number in the Jane Austen Birthday giveaway is:

And that means the winning entry is:

And I love the avatar that was randomly assigned to her.

Thank you all for entering. There will be more giveaways with the launch of Death Benefits, so come back soon! And I hope you all had a wonderful holiday.

 

Death Benefits Excerpt

One more gift for your virtual tree: an uncorrected excerpt of Death Benefits. I hope you enjoy this little taste of what's coming.

Merry Christmas!

Death Benefits Excerpt

My Christmas Gift to You

I am grateful to you all for making 2011 an amazing, exciting year, and I want to give a gift to each and every one of you. So I am.

If you stop by the blog over the Christmas holidays, I'll be leaving a little something under the virtual tree.

For Christmas Eve–and my mother's birthday–I'll be offering Absolute Liability free on Kindle for 24 hours. (The event will start around midnight PST.) I hope you enjoy the book. Tell your friends too!

And maybe for Christmas a little snippet of Death Benefits will appear.

No, Really, the Death Benefits Rewrite Is Finished

This weekend I went almost totally off grid to finish the rewrites of Death Benefits. No, really, I finished it. The manuscript is in the right order. Everything is revealed at its proper time, and Mrs. Twilley never changed.

I am really excited about putting the finishing touches on the manuscript and sending it to my awesome proofer. And I get to show off the cover and share tidbits from the book. This is the fun part! Yay! I really hope you like Death Benefits. I put a lot of work into it!

And don't forget to enter the Personages of Pride & Prejudice giveaway in the post below!

Happy Birthday, Jane Austen!

Dear Miss Austen,

In celebration of your 236th birthday–though I suppose a lady would not like to reveal her age–my gift to you would be to tell you about your legacy. (Though it is actually a gift you gave yourself.) Through your books, you have achieved a certain type of immortality. They have become movies and musicals, and you yourself have even become the heroine of novels and movies. You have awakened the creativity of other writers, and you have shown generations of women what a true gentleman ought to be.

And I would like you to know that women no longer have to marry for reasons other than love. We are free to follow our hearts, just as you dreamed.

That knowledge is my birthday gift to you, if only I could tell you.

And to all your fans, I'd like to offer two gifts in honor of your birthday:

Free for Everyone Today Only

To everyone, A free copy of Charlotte Collins on Kindle: On December 16 only, you can download my novel Charlotte Collins for free on Kindle. You do NOT need a Kindle in order to take advantage of this gift. You may read the book on your own computer or phone by downloading the free Kindle apps.


To one lucky winner, a free copy of ALL my Austenesque works in the Personages of Pride & Prejudice collection. There are multiple ways to enter. Please leave a comment on this post for each method you use to enter.



Mandatory: comment on this blog post and be sure to include your email address so that I can contact you if you win.
Follow me via Google Friend Connect
Follow me on Twitter.
Follow me on Facebook.
Tweet about this giveaway. Suggested tweet: Celebrate Jane Austen's birthday w/ characters she created. Win the Personages of Pride & Prejudice by @JenniferBecton! http://bectonliterary.com/?p=2050

The giveaway of the Personages of Pride & Prejudice ebook is open internationally and will be open until 12 AM EST December 24, 2011.

Good luck, and happy birthday, Miss Austen.

Jane Austen's Birthday Soiree

Jane Austen Birthday Soiree

December 16 is Jane Austen's 236th birthday.

It honestly amazes me to think that we are still reading and relating to the books that she wrote more than 200 years ago. Her characters have universal and timeless appeal, and I'm honored to have been able to write about three of them.

I'm also honored to have been invited to participate in the Jane Austen Birthday Soiree blog hop sponsored by Katherine Cox at November's Autumn and Maria Grazia at My Jane Austen Book Club. Each participant in the event will be posting in honor of the Authoress and giving away something special.

I'll be giving away an ebook copy of all my Austenesque novels in the Personages of Pride & Prejudice collection to one lucky commenter. But EVERYONE who comes to my blog December 16 will have the opportunity to get something FREE in honor of Miss Austen. So don't forget to stop here!

Participants include:

Sharon Lathan

Giveaway : Miss Darcy Falls in Love

Emily Snyder at O! Beauty Unattempted

Giveaway: Letters of Love & Deception

Laurel Ann Nattress at Austenprose

Giveaway: signed copy of Jane Austen Made Me Do It

C. Allyn Pierson at SemiTrue Stories

Giveaway: Mr Darcy Little Sister (open worldwide)

Cindy Jones at First Draft

Giveaway:  a signed copy of "My Jane Austen Summer" and a package of Lily Berry's Pink Rose Tea by Bingley's, Ltd.

Farida Mestek at  Regency stories set against the backdrop of Regency England

Giveaway: I was Jane Austen Best Friend by Cora Harrison

Marilyn Brant at Brant Flakes

Giveaway : A canvas ACCORDING TO JANE tote bag and a pair of A SUMMER IN EUROPE luggage tags.

Prue Batten at Mesmered's Blog

Giveaway : Anna Elliot's  "Georgiana Darcy" (Kindle book)

Erin Blakemore at The Heroine's Bookshelf  

Giveaway :  a set of Potter-Style Pride and Prejudice notecards  

Velvet at vvb32 reads

Giveaway: Jane Austen's Little Instruction Book (Charming Petites) By Jane Austen Edited by Sophia Bedford-Pierce, Illustrated by Mullen & Katz,  Introduction by Barbara Paulding

Karen Doornebos at The Fiction vs. Reality Smackdown

Giveaway: 2 Jane Austen Candles and 2 signed DNMD books plus drink coasters and tea!

ReginaJeffers

Giveaway:  An autographed copy of "Christmas at Pemberley "

Alyssa Goodnight

Giveaway: Jane Austen Action figure

Deb at Jane Austen in  Vermont

Giveaway:  JASNA 2012 calendars from the Wisconsin JASNA Region

Laura Hile,  Susan Kaye, Pamela Aidan, and Barbara Cornthwaite at Jane Started It! 

Giveaway:

One copy of Young Master Darcy: A Lesson in Honour by Pamela Aidan
One set of Frederick Wentworth, Captain (Books 1 and 2) by Susan Kaye
Two copies of Mercy's Embrace: So Rough a Course (Book 1) by Laura Hile
George Kinghtley, Gentleman (Books 1 and 2) by Barbara Cornthwaite.

Juliet Archer at Choc Lit Authors' Corner

Giveaway:  a copy of "Persuade Me"  and one of "The Importance of Being Emma"

Jane Greensmith at Reading, Writing, Working, Playing

Giveaway: a copy of  "Intimations of Austen", and Sense & Sensibility (Marvel Illustrated)

Jenny Allworthy at The Jane Austen Film Club 

Giveaway:  a copy of Northanger Abbey DVD starring Felicity Jones and JJ Feild (The winner will choose region 1 or 2 DVD)

Sitio Jane Austen at El Salón de Té de Jane

Giveaway:  – Spanish edition of Sense and Sensibility for the 200th Anniversary + A DVD package with adaptations of Jane Austen

(It's only zone 2, but it's in Spanish and English ) +  blu-ray of the BBC's Emma with Romola Garai

Kaitlin Saunders

Giveaway: "A Modern Day Persuasion"

Becky Rhodehouse at One Literature Nut

Giveaway: selection of Austenesque Reads

Patrice Sarath

Giveaway: A copy of The Unexpected Miss Bennet

Adriana Zardini at Jane Austen Brasil

Giveaway: DVD – Sense and Sensibility (1995) – English / Portuguese subtitles

Jane Odiwe at Jane Austen Sequels 

Giveaway:  a mug with one of  Jane Odiwe's illustrations and a copy of her "Mr Darcy's Secret"

Courtney Webb at Stiletto Storytime

Giveaway: Noble Satyr by Lucinda Brant (Regency Romance)

Vera Nazarian at Urban Girl Takes Vermont

Giveaway: a copy of Vera Nazarian's gift hardcover edition of her inspirational calendar and diary, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration

Abigail Reynolds at Pemberley Variations

Giveaway:   a signed copy of "Mr. Darcy's Undoing"

AustenAuthors

Giveaway:  Georgette Heyer's Regency World by Jennifer Kloester

Katherine Cox at November's Autumn

Giveaway :$10 B&N Gift-card (US only)

Maria Grazia at My Jane Austen Book Club

Giveaway : A selection of Austenesque reads

See ya there!

Moving the Door Pt. 2

So remember that post about moving the door?

I puzzled and puzzled 'till my puzzler was sore. --para. Dr.Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Well, it looks like I did it again. I finished my entire rewrite of Death Benefits in which I basically turned the entire plot upside down, and while I was taking a break from polishing the second half of the manuscript, I thought of a better and easier way of arranging the events in my novel. (Sorry. I have to be vague. This is a mystery, and I don't want to give away whodunnit.)

When did I realize it? 3AM. So what do I do? I turn on the light and reoutline the whole novel. And if that doesn't make me officially insane, then this will: I've stopped my readers from reading my previously polished chapters and started another rewrite.

I was pleased with my first rewrite, but I'm thrilled with the way this one is working out! I want to make Death Benefits the best book I can, and if that means rewriting it, twenty-seven times, I will. (Hopefully, it won't take twenty-seven!)

Death Benefits Is Coming

"Occupy Vincent" by @PattyMarq, my Twitter pal

Right now I am working on the final touches of Death Benefits before sending it to my awesome proofreader. And that means I will soon get to see the outdoors again!

And it also means lots of things to celebrate! Starting with the release of the cover art, which will probably be next week. Oh! And I should probably provide a teaser excerpt and book description too!

And of course there will be giveaways starting in the very near future. I'm thinking of including some merch, paperbacks, and ebooks. I can't wait. I love giveaways!

I'm very excited about this release and I hope you will enjoy Death Benefits.

Read My Books FREE

All My Books Are FREE for Prime Members Right Now through the Kindle Owners' Lending Library!

Aren't sure you want to pay good money to read a book about Caroline Bingley? Or Charlotte Collins? Or a book about an insurance fraud investigator? (Boy, I do like the odd characters, don't I?)

Well, now you can read any of my books FREE through the Kindle Owners' Lending Library! If you own a Kindle and participate in the Amazon Prime program, you can borrow one ebook per month free with no due dates. Read more here.

For the next 90 days, all my titles will be available FREE through the Kindle Owners' Lending Library.

Read FREE and have a Merry Christmas!

PS. If you're a Janeite, you can read all my Austen works free at one time if you borrow the Personages of Pride & Prejudice Collection . Shhh…don't tell.

Nancy Kelley Skids in Sideways

Please welcome my friend and fellow Indie Janeite Nancy Kelley to Skidding in Sideways. I have truly enjoyed cheering Nancy on as she entered the self-publishing world, and I'm absolutely loving her novel His Good Opinion. Welcome, Nancy!

Mr. Darcy is arguably one of the most beloved characters in literature. The other day, someone on Twitter asked, "Who did women compare men to before Mr. Darcy existed?"

But Darcy is definitely not perfect. He starts out as proud, self-righteous, and downright rude. He had to know there was a possibility of his words about Elizabeth being overheard in a ballroom that size, and he said them anyway.

Darcy's flaws are best described in his own words: "As a child I was taught what was right, but I was not taught to correct my temper. I was given good principles, but left to follow them in pride and conceit." In other words, he always knew what he should do, but he had no motivation until Elizabeth turned him down flat.

There's another truth here that I think many of us can relate to. How many of us have been truly surprised when a friend took us aside and told us how our behavior was coming across? Think of the last time someone offended you—do you think it was intentional, or did they simply not realize exactly what they were saying?

Most of us have friends who can knock us upside the head when we get prideful or start belittling others. In Darcy's case, however, his wealth kept even his closest friends from telling him straight up that he acted like an arrogant prig.

It took Elizabeth, unaffected by his power and position, to show Darcy how the world saw him. "If you had behaved in a more gentlemanlike manner…" Imagine how those words affected a man who believed he had always behaved in a gentlemanlike manner!

The true strength of Darcy's character is that he trusted her enough to accept her judgment and begin to make corrections to his behavior. When he learns to present himself to the world as the man he always thought he was, Elizabeth and readers world over fall in love with him.

Nancy Kelley is a Janeite, an Austenesque author, and a blogger. During the writing of His Good Opinion, a version of Mr. Darcy took up residence in her brain; she fondly refers to him as the Darcy in my Head, or DIMH.

If Nancy could possess any fictional device, it would be a Time-Turner. Then perhaps she could juggle a full-time library job, writing, and blogging; and still find time for sleep and a life. Until then, she lives on large quantities of tea, of which DIMH approves.

You can find Nancy on Twitter @Nancy_Kelley, on her blog, and on IndieJane.org.

His Good Opinion is available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, Amazon.uk, Amazon.de, and Amazon.fr. The paperback will be available later this month from Amazon.com.