Every now and again, I need a little dose of culture. So recently, I left the comforts of my suburban home and drove down to the Minneapolis Institute of Art to see their new exhibit, Jane Austen’s Reading Room (its curator is a fellow member of my local chapter of the Jane Austen Society of North America). This room, along with the Georgian Drawing Room, are part of the museum's "living … [Read more...]

Anna Paulson works as Julie Klassen’s research and writing assistant. Pink lipstick, a rapturous voice, and long, black hair that curled in disarray around her glowing face—these were my first impressions of Siobhan (pronounced shi-VAWN), my creative writing professor at the National University of Ireland, Galway. She reminded me of a whimsical book character, and I thought it fitting. Nearly … [Read more...]

I am writing this from a beautiful rental home near Bird-in-Hand, PA, where I have had the privilege of being snowbound with five other writers. We gathered for a writing retreat in Lancaster County, a few hours from author Dani Pettrey’s home. We toured the countryside and an Amish house and farm, and also visited Hershey’s Chocolate World before winter storm Jonas hit. We planned on a … [Read more...]

I am married to a dreamer. You would not think a software engineer would be such a dreamer, but he is. For years now, he’s been saying things like: “When we build a cabin and live up north…” “When we live in England, we’ll do so and so….” “When we live in Fiji…or Belize..." And I confess that I had fallen into the Grinch-like habit of  laying out all the reasons why those dreams … [Read more...]

I recently attended the annual Christmas celebration of my local chapter of the Jane Austen Society (JASNA), where our speaker, author Maria Grace, shared a fascinating talk about Regency Christmas Traditions, based on her book, A Jane Austen Christmas. I won’t attempt to describe all of the many traditions observed over the twelve days of Christmases Past, but since I’m hosting Christmas … [Read more...]