It's been a busy past couple of weekends for me! I did some more tall ship viewing at the Chestertown, Maryland Downrigging Festival, and got a lot of writing done, to boot, as I found staying in this historic town very inspiring:
I also attended the JAFF Writer-Reader Get-Together, and had a fantastic time. It was so great to get to meet up with readers, bloggers, and fellow writers, and talk about Austenesque writing and Jane Austen the whole weekend. I dressed up for tea, as I love to do:
They're gauging interest for a 2020 session, so if this sounds like fun but you weren't able to make it this year, please register!
Well, as it turns out I made that trip to Baltimore sooner than expected! I learned that tall ship Lynx was going to be there along with Pride of Baltimore II. They're both types of schooners known as Baltimore clippers, and very much of interest to me at this point in my research. Still better, they were tied up at Fell's Point, the historic seaport and shipbuilding area of Baltimore, which turned out these schooners by the hundreds in the early 19th century. So I decided to go up and do a day sail on Pride of Baltimore II, since I'd been planning for a long time to do one on Lynx at another event a few weeks from now.
It was very weird to be going on a research trip that's only an hour away rather than a 7-8 hour flight. Unfortunately what I learned is that they were also doing a festival in Fell's Point, and it was a HUGE festival. Apparently it started as a way to raise money to keep Fell's Point from being razed for an interstate highway, but now that that threat is passed, it's just celebratory. So the views of a lot of the buildings were blocked by tents, although I was able to see some good examples of the architecture on the streets farther back. I think I'm going to pop up again at some point and do a history tour and get a better sense of what the harbour-front buildings look like normally.
Even though I didn't have to go all the way to England for this one, I did still manage to find the super-leaning old houses!
Some examples of the Georgian (called Federal-style here since we threw off George III) architecture of Fell's Point.
More house examples. There's no attempt whatsoever at the sort of architectural uniformity you see in places like London, in terrace houses. It looks like each one was built independently, to varying heights and styles.
One thing that was strangely consistent was these passages, which all led to a sort of rear yard for all of the terraced houses.
Lynx and Pride of Baltimore II tied up. I love moments like this where there are enough historic elements to mentally edit out the rest and envision this as a scene 200 years ago.
The sail was great, particularly getting to see Lynx with a full spread of canvas from the vantage point of another ship. It really gives a sense of how beautiful and fast these ships were, with their provocatively raked masts and sharp hulls.
Lynx looking absolutely lovely.
Lynx seen from Pride of Baltimore. That's Fort McHenry on the left, of Star Spangled Banner fame.
I also found a nice pub serving cask ale that was not too crowded with festival-goers, and made some good progress on the journal I wrote about at the end of my last post, so in a way it was like a little miniature English trip, except I made it by local commuter rail. All in all it was a very fun and productive time!
Hello, dear readers! It's been a while since I've done an update here, and I thought I would give you an update on what I've been up to over the past couple of weeks. As you might have seen if you follow my Facebook or Twitter feeds, I've been in England burning some more shoe leather and taking loads of photos to share with you all. I visited five great houses and also spent some time in the Lake District, where I'm planning on setting a portion of A Generation's Secrets.
So watch this space for future Austen Authors posts on the carriage museum I visited, those great houses, and my experiences walking in the Lake District. For now, though, here's a picture of the incredible long gallery at Syon to whet your appetite.
I also went to JASNA's AGM, as it was in Williamsburg this year which is not too far from me (although anyone who dealt with Sunday's I-95 traffic might disagree!). I was fortunate to go with a friend who is as much a Janeite as me, and we decided to dress up the whole time, which I enjoyed even more than I'd expected I would. Although I've certainly worn the clothes all day before and dressed up for the ball at the Washington D.C. AGM a few years ago, I've never actually worn them outside. But given there are already a bunch of people in colonial dress there, it wasn't at all intimidating to walk around in Regency clothing, and it gave me a sense of how it felt to hold a parasol (and how to keep it from bopping one's bonnet).
It also made for some fun moments as we decided to walk up and down Duke of Gloucester Street, which is the main street of the historic area. It turns out a lot of people probably didn't know the difference between Regency and colonial clothing, because we got stopped a number of times by people wanting to take our pictures or have photos taken with us. Our brighter Regency colors and parasols perhaps stood out from the more workman/woman-like clothing most of the people in the colonial area wear.
I think we were not the only ones who dressed up more since it was in Williamsburg, because I felt like I saw a lot more people in period clothes over the whole course of the conference than there had been in D.C. Wearing a new bonnet myself did not prevent me from having bonnet/hat envy as there was some incredible millinery on display.
The conference itself was focused on Northanger Abbey, which isn't my favorite work of Austen's, although it is one I appreciated more the second time I read it. And over the course of the conference I found myself glad that it was on a book I hadn't studied as much, because hearing various analyses made me consider it in different ways, and I think I appreciated it far more by the end of the conference.
The most interesting sessions I attended were:
Jocelyn Harris' opening plenary, where she framed Northanger Abbey in very modern terms like "gaslighting" and "fake news" and had a harsher view of Henry Tilney (as sexist and proud of his education and position as a man) versus my own (and I think many others') take of him as teasing and flirtatious. I didn't necessarily agree, but it made me think.
Kristen Miller Zohn's talk on portraiture and architecture as it relates to Northanger Abbey, particularly the common trope of portraits coming to life either literally, or in someone viewing a portrait and then immediately meeting the subject. Until she called it out, I had not realized that Austen used this in Pride and Prejudice, nor that I had planned the same within my outline of The Crimes of Elizabeth Darcy without consciously understanding I was doing it. I wonder if Austen's use was conscious or unconscious?
James Nagle's talk on the British Army. Sometimes I find both Austen talks and Austen books too narrowly focused on just examples from her work, but Nagle did a fantastic job of explaining the much broader context of how the army worked and was structured, and then explained the examples seen in the books.
Roger Moore's closing plenary on what Austen had to say about the Reformation. Moore also used the example of Northanger Abbey as a fictitious abbey to tell the greater tale about what happened to the abbeys seized by Henry VIII and their legacies.
I think my favorite part of the ball is actually the procession beforehand. I remember from the Washington DC conference how amazing it was to see so many people dressed in Regency garb. While there we were riding on escalators, though, in Williamsburg there was a torchlight procession through the historic area.
It was so historically authentic that we needed modern gentlemen in Regency clothing to shine their phone flashlights on patches of horse manure so our dresses would not be soiled. I feel reasonably sure that's the first time JASNA has been THAT historically accurate!
That's not it for my traveling and meeting up, however. For once I actually get to do some location research MUCH closer to home, as Baltimore is also one of the settings in A Generation's Secrets, so I'll be popping up there at some point. And I'll be attending the JAFF Reader Writer Get Together in November, so I hope I'll get a chance to see some of you there!
And yes, in and amongst all of this, I've also been getting some writing in. Mild spoilers for what one of the plotlines will be in A Generation's Secrets below...
One of the elements of the AGS plot are found journals of Lady Anne Darcy's (one of the elements that drives the title) and I decided to write the entries as an actual journal, meaning long-hand in a journal. Although not with a quill pen...I've had quite enough of that for now! I think it's helped to form a different voice for them, and one more in keeping with them being journals than if I had just tried to type them out in and amongst the rest of the story. So I'm currently working my way chronologically through the pertinent events in Lady Anne's life, and then I'll be back to the main manuscript, pulling from the journal entries as I need them.
If you can read my handwriting (which I realize is a big if!), you can get a little sneak preview below, and see how the medium helped influence the tone:
I think that's it for now, dear readers! I hope to see some of you in November!
In my latest post for Austen Authors, I'm taking a closer look at one
room, the library, and what it might have been like at some of the
houses in Pride and Prejudice.
The beauty of solo travel: moving at your own pace...or sometimes lack thereof.
I know there are many reasons why people aren't able to travel where they want to travel -- not all of us have or can take as much time off of work as we would like, or may not have the health or finances to do so. I have been admittedly pretty fortunate in all of these areas -- even in my younger days I was able to set up a separate bank account for travel and save a little every month into that account, and although I've been plagued before with a bad foot and still have the occasional hip problem, I've mostly been able to work around them.
The reason I want to talk about today is not having anyone who wants to go where you're going. Many years ago, I adopted the philosophy that I would never prevent this from letting me see the places I wanted to see, and I've held to it. I've gone on wonderful trips with family and friends, and I've gone on wonderful trips by myself -- they're very different, but I've enjoyed each in their own ways.
Admittedly, the place that I travel to most now is Great Britain, and I feel very comfortable traveling solo there. There are places in the world that I've been to where I wouldn't have felt comfortable by myself, and probably would have sought to go as part of an organized tour if I hadn't already been going there with others.
Traveling solo gives you complete control over your itinerary. Feel like spending the whole day tramping through an old estate house and grounds? Do it. Feel like going to a quirky little museum? Do it. Feel like sitting by the water with a cup of tea or a pint of ale and reading a book? Do it. I've found it's my chance to completely indulge my own interests, better disconnect from the internet, and be more mindful of myself.
Traveling solo is also empowering. I will admit that I eased my way into it. After two trips to England with friends, I did my first solo trip here in the United States, taking the train up through New England with various stops. It went well, and after that I felt I was ready to make the jump and travel internationally by myself, which also went well. That's not to say that things haven't gone wrong periodically along the way -- they do -- but I've always been able to handle them, and when I've done that, I've felt empowered, and accomplished.
Traveling solo does not have to be lonely. I'm an introvert, so I enjoy the opportunity to disconnect from people and recharge a little bit, but even I like to make connections when I travel, and this is very easy in Britain because of the pub culture (and no, you do not have to drink to enjoy yourself at a pub -- ordering a soft drink is perfectly accepted there). There's a pretty simple etiquette that applies most of the time: if you sit at the bar, you want to chat, and if you sit at a table, you don't. A few times when I've found myself at "the local," I've had people strike up conversations with me at the table -- these are places where everybody knows everybody and conversation just sort of flows across the whole pub. But even that has been fun.
There are portions of traveling solo that worried me before I did it, and they may be some of the things concerning you now, if you're reading and thinking, "maybe I should do it...but..."
One of the biggest ones for me was meals. I like to enjoy a good meal, and the idea of going to a restaurant and requesting a table for one was intimidating. There are some simple solutions to that -- you can dine at the bar (and as noted, at many English pubs this will also guarantee you some conversation), or just get some takeaway food and dine in your hotel or al fresco. But the best solution I've found is a combination of several things: 1. dine at less busy times; 2. stay occupied; and 3. OWN IT.
If I eat a full English breakfast, I'm generally good until needing a snack sometime mid-afternoon (my favorite snack being a cream tea), and then ready for dinner at five or six (except in London, where the office crowd means aiming for even earlier). This is way earlier than I usually eat dinner, but it is before the crowds hit, so I don't feel like I'm taking up a table that two people would otherwise have used. Staying occupied just means bringing something to do to make up for having no conversation partner. I always keep a travel journal, so I use mealtime gaps as a chance to get caught up; if I am caught up, I'll read a book.
OWN IT, meanwhile, is as simple as it sounds. "Table for one?" I say "yes," and I say it confidently -- I'm traveling by myself and enjoying the heck out of it, and yes I am going to get a table for one at your restaurant and enjoy a delicious meal. OWN IT also applies to tours and anywhere else where I've felt a little weird being by myself. I like to remind myself that I'll likely never see any of these people again, so if they are judging me for being solo, who cares? The other thing I remind myself of is that it's way better to do something I've always wanted to do solo than to never do it at all. Let's face it, I know few, if any, people that I could drag through the quantity of historic homes I want to see myself.
The other doubt that may raise its head is in your ability to navigate a whole country (or countries) by yourself. I do recommend starting with a short trip somewhere relatively close to home, then for Americans like me who want to branch out internationally, I think there's no choice better than Britain (and I'm presuming many of my readers have a desire to travel there, anyway). It's easy to get around there -- I'm going to do another post in the future on navigating transportation there. And they speak English, albeit with some differences -- I am forever reminding myself to ask for the W.C. or the toilets, rather than the restroom! There are so many things to see there that it's easy to stay as occupied (or unoccupied) as you wish during the day, and the pub culture makes it easy to be social.
Things will go wrong. They do on every trip, whether you're solo or with others. But when you're solo, you'll be the sole person responsible for fixing them. I do recommend getting a data plan for your phone if you're doing this internationally. Figuring out how to deal with a roadblock is WAY easier if you have access to the internet. And I've generally found people to be very helpful if I ask (most of my problems have been transit-related, and transit employees in Britain are super-helpful).
There are also some things you can do to avoid issues. I wear a money belt, and keep cash, backup credit/debit cards, and my passport in it at all times. If anything else got lost or stolen, that would suck, but at least I would have the resources to deal with it. Now that I'm so reliant on my phone, I also bring a spare global phone, so if something does happen to my main phone, I can get back up and running faster. I also really recommend traveling with a carry-on size bag and a purse or daybag only. Navigating the world is a lot easier when you're not worrying whether you've left a steamer trunk behind somewhere. Last recommendation: don't max out your travel budget before you even leave. Keep some money in reserve to deal with issues as they arise. That way if you need to spend some money to get yourself out of a jam, you can get right back to enjoying the trip, rather than being out of the jam but now worried about finances.
There are loads of resources out there for solo travelers, so I won't rehash all of the tips. These are just the things that I have worked best for me, and I hope if anyone out there is considering solo travel, that they've helped. And perhaps if you weren't considering it...maybe you are now!
