Ambles in Austenland

[Edit: I'll be in Tennessee and Mississippi the next few days. If you're in the area, check my events page.]

One really cool bit of feedback I've had on austenland, and one I didn't anticipate, are the women who email and tell me how their relationship improved with their husband after reading the book. I love that. One woman said, "I read a lot of self-help, and I find myself looking at my husband and analyzing him for what's wrong. And then I read austenland and I was like, "C'mere, honey..." Indulging in the occasional good romance is good for women, I think. It doesn't pull us away from our significant others--it spruces us up, makes us feel all gooey and affectionate, and reminds us how much we love them. Really, I should be getting thank you cards from the husbands. Hop to it, gentlemen.

From single women, I've heard that reading austenland gave them new hope in a dating scene, helped them to feel pretty and desirable again. Also, I've had so many readers tell me that they didn't read books. Then because they loved the movie of Pride & Prejudice, they decided to read this book. And have read several other books since. I love that austenland has become a gateway book! A book that non-readers read and discover that they might like reading after all. So cool.

And on the other hand, I've come under criticism from some for writing a "vulgar" and "trashy" book. This absolutely astounds me. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for every reader having that individual reading experience, for their experience to be much different than mine. I'm just so surprised by it! If it were a movie, I feel pretty confident it'd be rated PG. When I was writing austenland, I thought, "People like me who enjoy romance but don't like to read the smutty stuff will dig this book! It's so fun and clean and yet still sexy!" And then come the accusations of vulgarity. sigh You really, really can't anticipate how people will respond. For me, a kissing scene is good clean fun, but for others it's wrong and degrading. For me the mild language was clean and added spice and character, but for others it was offensive. I am so sorry about that. I would so like for all readers to feel "safe" in my books. A part of me wants to please everyone, to never offend anyone, to make everyone happy...but I don't know how. I just have to keep going with what I know--writing for my internal reader. And let all those external readers respond any way they need to.

I just hope they respond nicely.