Mary Lydon Simonsen Skids in Sideways
Today, I am honored to introduce a special guest who was once Skidding in Sideways like me. Now, Mary Lydon Simonsen is the successful, traditionally published author of two novels and has two more on the way! Welcome, Mary!
The Unexpected Author
Five years ago, it was necessary for me to undergo total knee replacement surgery, requiring eight-weeks leave from my job as an after-school tutor for a non-profit organization. When I gave my supervisor the news, she said, "No problem. This site is being closed anyway." And so I became a limping, unemployed, and unemployable woman in her fifties. My husband suggested that I do some of the things I had talked about doing once I retired. I had just finished a detailed family history, and I was in a writing mood. Thus, I became the unexpected author.
After my surgery, flat on my back and with my leg strapped into a medieval continual motion torture device, I had plenty of time to think about the plot of a novel. When I was finally able to go vertical, I started writing. It took fifteen months to complete my novel, and I self-published my work as Pemberley Remembered. My sales on Amazon were modest, but I eventually worked my way into the black. But self-promotion was never my strong suit and finding ways to get my book "out there" without actually leaving my house was becoming more difficult. Then I received a call from Deb Werksman at Sourcebooks saying that they would like to publish my book. Sold! Searching for Pemberley
came out in December 2009.
But that was only the beginning as I became an instant writing addict. In the next year, I wrote and sold to Sourcebooks: The Perfect Bride for Mr. Darcy
, A Wife for Mr. Darcy, and Mr. Darcy's Bite. I also wrote two self-published novels: The Second Date: Love – Italian American Style
, which takes place in the Italian-American community of North Jersey where I grew up, and Anne Elliot, A New Beginning: A Persuasion Re-imagining
, a parody of Persuasion. My cup runneth over—all thanks to Jane Austen.
Although I am in awe of Jane Austen's talent, especially since she wrote her masterpieces with a quill pen, I would like to think that she wouldn't want me to be in awe of her—that we could sit down and have a cup of tea together and talk about some of her favorite passages from her novels. After all, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a single woman in possession of immense talent must want to share that gift with her fans.
Do you have a favorite Austen quote? I have many, but on top of my list is a line spoken by Mr. Bennet to Lizzy: "For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn." I hope you will share yours.
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Mary Lydon Simonsen's first book, Searching for Pemberley, was acclaimed by Booklist, Publishers Weekly, and RT Book Reviews. She is well loved and widely followed on all the Jane Austen fanfic sites, with tens of thousands of hits and hundreds of reviews whenever she posts. She lives in Peoria, Arizona where she is working on her next Jane Austen novel. For more information, please visit http://marysimonsenfanfiction.blogspot.com/ and http://www.austenauthors.com/, where she regularly contributes.
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Giveaway! Giveaway! Giveaway!
Win a free copy of Mary's newest novel The Perfect Bride for Mr. Darcy courtesy of Sourcebooks. There are two ways to enter:
Comment on this blog post and include your favorite Jane Austen quotation (1 entry).
Tweet one of the following including this hashtag: #perfectbridefordarcy (1 entry)
Your favorite Jane Austen quotation
A link to this blog post
A link to The Perfect Bride for Mr. Darcy on Amazon.com.
You must include the hashtag #perfectbridefordarcy to enter the drawing or else I won't see your entry!
Winners will be announced January 29. That's 10 days from now, so get Tweeting.
