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Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Janet Taylor: A Darcyholic?


Guest Post and Give-Away by Janet Taylor

Hi, Darcyholics!  I am very happy to introduce to you one of my newest friends, Janet Taylor.  Janet won a guest post here at Darcyholic, but WE are the winners!  Her artistic talent and her love for Austen are a joy.  I know you will enjoy getting to know her.
Upcoming Guest Posts Are As Follows:
February 24--Nina Benneton
February 28--Maria Grazia (My Jane Austen Book Club)
March 2--Rita Watts
March 6--Ruth Oakland
March 9--Jack Caldwell (Celebrating The Three Colonels release)
March 13--Lynne Robson
March 16--Mary Simonsen
March 17--Jennifer Hickling (michchick)
March 20--Jan Hahn (release of The Journey)
March 23--Jeane Alvarez (P&P2005 blog)
March 27--Lucy S. 
March 30--Elizabeth Kantor
April 3--Bonnie Carlson
April 6--China Fuentes-Montero
April 10--Matt Duffy
April 13--Regina Jeffers
April 17--Elizabeth Ashton
And Many more to come!
&*&*&*&*&*&*&
Comments on Janet’s post will enter you into a contest to win one of 2 sets of 10 of her ‘Darcy-inspired’ notecards, international winners accepted (thank you Janet!) (You will also be included in the drawing for 2 autographed copies of my book, Fitzwilliam Ebenezer Darcy--to be given away at the end of the month from all the comments on the blog this month). Entries will be based on comments on blog posts; but additional chances will be given for joining this site, tweeting this post, Joining this site as a member!, sharing this on Facebook or your blog, Friend me on Facebook, clicking 'like’ on Barbara Tiller Cole, Author's Facebook page, or following BarbTCole on Twitter. Please note any of these things that you do in your blog post for extra entries.

Janet Taylor: A Darcyholic?

Long, long ago in a city far away, I read Pride and Prejudice in high school literature or college. Which one escapes me, but it was required reading.  

Fast forward to about two years ago, and my dear friend and author, Jan Hahn, reintroduced me to Jane Austen and more specifically, Pride and Prejudice. She also lent me her movie of the BBC miniseries starring Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle.  (Yes, she did part with it, temporarily.) I LOVED the movie! I was hooked and was speedily reeled in to a new passion of all things Jane Austen! The passion has become an addiction as I cannot get enough of Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet. During one of our many discussions of JAFF, Jan told me that she forgot to mention that it could be addicting. A little late, I might add, was her warning, although I will be forever grateful to Jan for introducing me to the wonderful world of JAFF. Her book, An Arranged Marriage, was the first P n P variation that I read. Since then I have been reading voraciously.

Please allow me to digress for a few moments to my other passion, photography, more specifically, wildlife photography. Using my photographs I create note cards, book marks and prints. (I even recently won a Hallmark Greeting Card Contest with one of my photos of a cute baby raccoon.)  Combining my two passions I have now moved on to taking pictures of stills of the movie, Pride and Prejudice. I wanted scenes or pictures that I liked best to be my own personal Darcy bookmarks!!! (I could steal an occasional glance at Mr. Darcy while reading about him.) I mean, spending part of a day taking pictures of Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy…who wouldn’t enjoy that! Next I moved on to drawing pictures of my favorite hero and heroine using colored pencils. Now I have Darcy and Lizzy note cards for my own personal use or to give away!
My name is Janet Taylor and yes, I am a Darcyholic. I have now started two new generations of Darcyholics and I’m proud of it! When I was drawing pictures of Darcy, my seven year old granddaughter, Emily, wanted to draw him too. She and my three old grandson had watched the movie with me and were very interested for most of the series. I was surprised to say the least. 

Once when making more bookmarks, I was looking at my pictures of Lizzy, and my grandson was sitting in my lap. I moved on to some pictures of Darcy and he quietly asked me if we could go back and look at Lizzy a little longer. I found that quite diverting! Then another time he brought me the movie and asked me if we could watch Darcy and Lizzy. Of course, I said yes.  He sat and watched until it was time for his nap. My three year old grandson’s name is Tanner and he is a Lizzyholic!  

Now their mom, Christina, my daughter-in-law is hooked too. After suffering a fall when she was about 8 months pregnant, we watched the movie while she rested. That did it! She is now reading Austenesque books every chance she gets.

It has been and continues to be an exciting journey, one where I have made the acquaintance of many lovely people and inspiring authors. With much anticipation I look forward to the books and adventures that await our beloved Mr. Darcy and his Elizabeth Bennet.  I can lose myself in their world of Georgian England, where good manners and propriety are the rule rather than the exception. I read Persuasion and reread Pride and Prejudice, along with numerous what-ifs, sequels and alternate paths of dear Jane’s books. I aspire to read countless more and will read all of Jane Austen. Barbara, I am thankful for your list of so many of these awesome books!

Isn’t Darcyholic Diversions a wonderful place to meet…where we can relish our Darcyholism and NOT wish for a cure! Raise your books in a toast to Barbara Tiller Cole and her lovely blog! Thank you, Barbara, for allowing me to be your guest and tell my tale. 

29 comments:

  1. I love that your three-year-old grandson Tanner *wants* to watch PP and look at Lizzy and Darcy, without you trying to get him hooked. He obviously loves who you love. Yay, Tanner and Grandma and your other family Darcyholics!
    ~ June

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    1. June, it has been nice to watch with my grandchildren and to hear them talk about Darcy and Lizzy. That is pretty special to me. My son teases me that I am ruining his children! (although he enjoyed watching too) He really thinks it is pretty neat that they like it!

      Thanks for your comment!

      Delete
  2. I love that you can enjoy JAFF with your family, that's so great! My mom enjoys the films but I don't know if I'd ever convince her to jump into Austenesque novels.

    Your art is lovely! I wish I could draw so I could immortalize my vision of Darcy and Lizzy. They look somewhat like Colin and Jennifer but not exactly. Thanks for the giveaway!

    I follow @Barbtcole and DD and I'll be tweeting this.

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    1. Monica, it has been nice to enjoy JAFF with my family. My daughter-in-law and I have many good conversations about the books and that has been good for us. She gets tickled at the children and the fact that they enjoy it at such a young age.

      I'm glad that you like my art. It was truly a work of love since I 'love' Pride and Prejudice so much. I will be doing more soon. I generally do not draw people but decided I wanted to try Darcy and Lizzy. It was great fun.

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  3. Beautiful art. Love the story about Tanner. so cute

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  4. What a wonderful narrative! I love you grandchildren. Mine live too far away to get them interested but I love that Tanner is a Lizzyholic and they have both watched P&P with you!

    Your art is amazing and congratulations on your win with Hallmark! I love animal pictures.

    I'm associated with everything except twitter...I just don't tweet! *grin*

    It's so nice to meet a fellow Darcyholic!

    -Sandy

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    1. Sandy, I appreciate your kind words about my art and the Hallmark win. Photographing wildlife is such an interesting thing. Oftentimes it is a surprise to find what I've captured in a photo, like the little raccoon appearing to say...Oops.

      I wish you lived closer to your grandchildren and could share your love of PnP with them. It has been a pleasure to share with mine. It was a surprise for them to be involved with the movie at their age. Tanner also likes for me to read to him at night from some of my 'special' books. (as he calls my Austenesque novels) Guess he is my little romantic!

      Thanks again and I'm glad you enjoyed the post!

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  5. Janet:

    I really enjoyed your post. I love that you have your grandson becoming a ‘Lizzy’ addict at such a young age. That is just adorable. And I love your art! Congratulations again on your Hallmark award. And the Darcy and Lizzy note card picture is just wonderful.

    So happy to have you here posting!

    Barbara

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    1. Barbara, thank you for allowing me the privilege to post of my Darcyholism on your blog! I looked forward to it with much enthusiasm. (as you well know!) :) I'm thrilled that you enjoyed the post and liked my art and note cards. The art was a labor of love and fun too!

      Tanner speaks of Lizzy and Darcy pretty often and of course, that makes me chuckle. Naturally, I think it is pretty cute!

      I also want to take a minute to thank you for your concern and prayers for my son. We thought things were much improved as the surgery was successful, but then some complications arose today. I hope to know more tomorrow after we receive results from tests today. I will keep you posted.

      I was finally able to post some comments to the 'comments' to me! That has been a good diversion! I love your blog and am so happy to be a part of it! Thanks again.

      Delete
  6. Janet;

    I really enjoyed reading your post. It is so adorable that your grandson has been addicted to Lizzie at such a young age without you trying to get him to like it. Your art is quite a thing, and i congratulate you on your Hallmark Award. The Darcy and Lizzie card is so very wonderful, I would like to have that gift for drawing! Or just to own one of your cards!

    So happy to have read your story about why you are an Darcyholic
    Sophia

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    1. Thank you, Sophia. I appreciate your kind words. I was quite surprised at Tanner's enjoyment of Pride and Prejudice, but not so much at his love of Lizzy. He already likes the pretty girls and he really likes Jennifer Ehle!

      I am glad you liked my art and cards. It was so much fun drawing Darcy and Lizzy and expressing my love of Pride and Prejudice in that way. I hope to be working on more soon.

      Thanks again and glad you enjoyed my story! Thank you for the congratulations on my Hallmark win. That has been exciting!

      Delete
  7. Janet and I became friends long before I ever let her in on my Darcy addiction, but once I shared it with her, it opened up a wonderful world of Darcy discussions while shopping, over lunch, or on the phone. She truly loves the man! And not only is she a talented artist, but you should see her wildlife photos. They are absolutely beautiful! And Tanner? Well, if Lizzy ever met him, she'd be a Tannerholic. He can capture your heart with just one smile.

    Great post, dear friend!

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    1. Thank you for your sweet words, my friend. Thank you also for sharing your Darcy addiction with me. I had been missing out on much! :) You said it, I do love the man!

      I appreciate your comments on my art and my photos. You always indulge me by allowing me to share so many of them with you and never acting bored. That is a true friend, indeed!

      Glad you liked my post! By the way, Tanner likes you too!

      Delete
  8. Thank you for this delightful post! I really enjoyed it, especially that part about you starting two new generations of Darcyholics:) Once I let my mom watch 1995 P&P series together with me and she became fan of Darcy and Lizzy immediately. I'm sure she would become a complete Darcyholic if she could read English and enjoy all those what-ifs and Austenesque sequels.
    I liked your winning card very much! Baby racoon is so cute that I want to hug or at least pet him:)

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    1. There were three baby raccoons that took up residence under my deck. I think they had lost their parents. They did not know to be afraid of me nor that they were to sleep all day and come out at night! :) When I would go outside of a morning they would come running up to me. Sometimes they still do when I go out in the evenings. They seemed to like to have their picture taken as they posed quite readily.

      It is so nice that you and your mom enjoy P&P together. It is a neat addiction to share. I hope that someday she will be able to read the many what-ifs and sequels. Aren't they delightful! I have spent many an hour lost in the world of Darcy and Lizzy!

      I am glad that you enjoyed my post and thank you for taking the time to comment.

      By the way, when Hallmark called me about my win, they told me that they would not suggest I go out and give the raccoon a kiss! I would love to hug or pet them too!

      Delete
  9. I enjoyed reading your post. I have often wished that I could draw one of the Elizabeth and Darcy scenes I often see in my mind as I read the many and wonderful Austensque sequels.

    My daughter and I have spend many an hour watching Colin Firth as Darcy. My granddaughters are still too young to understand the draw, I am sure that it is only a matter of time before they enjoy P & P as much as their mama and I do.

    Congratulations on the Hallmark win. The picture made me say "ah!" and giggle.

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  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. I was having trouble with my computer and posting this morning and I accidentally posted the wrong reply here so I deleted and started over!

      Jadie, so glad that you enjoyed my post. I truly had such fun drawing Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. I am anxious to start drawing new pictures. I have several that I want to do. Isn't it fun how we see them in our minds as we read!

      I have to admit, I am a Colin Firth fan for Mr. Darcy. I think he captures the epitome of the character in the movie. That is great that you and your daughter have shared many good times watching the movie. I hope your granddaughters will come to love it as much as the two of you.

      The Hallmark win was very exciting and those cute raccoons have brought many smiles and 'ah' moments to me! I told more about them in the previous post!

      Thanks for taking the time to comment.

      Delete
  11. What a great story! My family thinks I'm insane so it's good to know that I still have a chance with my grandchildren (if my kids ever decide to give me any - and that is a serious doubt).

    Your artwork is beautiful and congratulations on your Hallmark win!

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  12. Glad you liked my tale! I do so hope you have lovely grandchildren someday and you can share with them! My son likes to tease me about my 'insanity' but he enjoyed watching P & P himself.

    The Hallmark win was exciting and especially so when I see my card with a Hallmark envelope! :) Thanks for the compliment of my artwork. As I attempted to draw Darcy and Lizzy I tried to bring out her fine eyes and his intensity. I plan to work on more and eventually have them on my website.

    Thanks for your comments.

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  20. Entertaining post. Getting my daughter hooked on my two obsessions: Pride and Prejudice (Variations, too) and Phantom of the Opera was easy. Now my granddaughter is hopping on the bandwagon with us. Both of us own versions of Pride and Prejudice, but multiple formats of the 1995 BBC production. For the three of us, it's the only version watched over and over, over and over. Glad that other families enjoy favorites.

    ReplyDelete