Pride and Prejudice was assigned to me in an English literature class when I was 15. It was not my favourite book, as I was forced to read it. I did read it, but under protest in order to pass the class. I forgot about the book until I was in my 30’s when in 2004 I discovered and watched, and then fell in love with, the 1995 6 part Pride and Prejudice version made in England for TV. I purchased a copy of the DVD which has been watched more times that I care to count. The tipping point was seeing the 2005 big screen adaption of P&P. In my humble opinion, Colin Firth is my preferred Darcy.

Not long after seeing the movie I acquired and read the complete works of Jane Austen on my Kindle. I read them all starting with Pride & Prejudice, it is my favourite by far of Miss Austen’s great works, in fact my favourite, full stop. After I read it three of four times over, I wistfully said to myself: ‘it is a great pity that she never wrote a sequel to P&P.’

I was searching the Kindle Store for books and for the fun of it I entered “Pride and Prejudice Sequel’ into the search bar not expecting any results. The rest is history. I discovered the myriad of JAFF books. Once I devoured all of the sequels and continuations that I could find, I reluctantly tried a variation. I had the wrong-headed belief that I would not enjoy a variation as much as sequels. Boy was I ever wrong!

The more that I read, the more I started thinking of scenarios and heard stories in my head. I decided to start writing, something that I never imagined in my wildest dreams that I would ever do. Today I am the proud owner of well over 1,500 JAFF novels that I have acquired on Amazon.

Although I never thought in my wildest dreams I would ever write a novel, I decided to try with my first offering, ‘A Change of Fortunes’ and I thought that would be it. Then other plot bunnies jumped into my head. Writing had become a full-time occupation for me. It seems that the more I write, the more I want to write. How many of us can say they truly love what they do for work? It is not work for me but a great pleasure.

I admit that I write under a penname as I value mine and my family’s privacy highly. Part of my reasoning stems from some years ago I was relentlessly attacked online which is also the reason I do not have any social media presence under my penname or my real name. To call what I suffered bullying would vastly understate what happened. Let me ask you to imagine the worst kind of cyber stalking and cruelty and then multiply it by a factor of 100, or more!

It is the reason I am very sensitive to non-constructive and nasty criticism. I have no issue with criticism as long as it is in fact constructive. Especially after my experiences when I was attacked, I have a deep distrust of those who hide behind anonymity to hurl cruel and nasty comments.

I will never ban a member from my site for constructive comments, no matter how much I disagree with them or they disagree with me. I am fine with people telling me they do not like my work, they are entitled to their opinions. For those people I beg you, do not read or buy my stories. That been said, abusive, hate, or any ‘ism’ vitriol and or speech will NOT be allowed and anyone who uses such speech will be permanently banned. Before anyone cries ‘free speech’ this is my personal site and as the owner of the site it is my right to set the standards.

Please all stay well and safe. Thanks again for visiting my site, Shana.