Happy New Year, Austenites! It’s a brand-spanking-new year, and the ladies of Austenacious are…well, to be completely frank, we haven’t changed much with the switching of the calendar. But it is a new year, and Jane, I think, comes out in favor of general self-improvement—and who am I to fall down on the perpetual job of becoming a better, smarter, more fantastic human being? And so I present a few small resolutions for 2011, each inspired by Jane and each the sort of thing I’d like to look back on and say, Yeah, I did that. Join me—or feel free to mock me next year if I don’t carry them out. Take your pick.

Read more Jane

This is why we’re here, right? Maybe Jane is comfort reading, practically recited from memory—or maybe she’s brand-new, absolutely sparkling with wit and humor and heart, and you’re just beginning to fall in love. Either way, nothing bad can come of extra time spent with stories of life and love (or letters, or juvenilia, or whatever’s on hand).

Embrace beloved sisters

Jane is all about sisters, whether charming, obnoxious, or a disturbingly realistic mix of the two. Mrs. Fitzpatrick and Miss Osborne and I, not having sisters of our own, started this site based on the way sisters in Austen so often address each other in letters—My Beloved Sister—and what makes for a better year than strengthening the bonds of Jane-like siblinghood? I aim to make 2011 a year for having, and being, a beloved sister: for making phone calls, writing letters (!), having slumber parties (preferably by candlelight for optimum secret-telling ambience), and/or sitting around and brushing my hair while talking about boys. Er, gentlemen.

Take more walks

In Jane’s world, stuff happens on walks: chance encounters, “chance” encounters, engagements, falls down hills, rescues on horseback. You never know! Walking is an adventure! And being all in favor of adventure in 2011—universe, don’t make me regret this—I’m going to spend more time on my feet—even if my hem is a disaster by the end. And if I have fine eyes, brightened by exercise, then so much the better.

Come spend 2011 with us, friends! Let’s make it a good one.

Tagged: on Wednesday, January 12, 2011 · 2 Comments »