{"id":349,"date":"2016-03-23T10:43:00","date_gmt":"2016-03-23T10:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/2016\/03\/23\/write-about-me\/"},"modified":"2020-10-28T16:34:52","modified_gmt":"2020-10-28T16:34:52","slug":"write-about-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/2016\/03\/23\/write-about-me\/","title":{"rendered":"“Write About Me”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"child<\/a><\/div>\n

That was my daughter’s suggestion when I was trying to pick a topic for a blog post. \u00a0She suggested I write about her and her activities in the yard and that I follow her around outside and photograph her for my blog.<\/p>\n

Needless to say, I am not doing that but it did get me thinking. \u00a0When do we all lose that absolute self-confidence? \u00a0When do we lose the belief that we are interesting? \u00a0When do we lose the ability to say “here I am. \u00a0I am a fascinating person in my own way.”? Because we are fascinating and we are interesting and really, I just want to be ten again and be totally convinced that a blog post about me is a worthy topic.<\/p>\n

\"Jane<\/a><\/div>\n

Right now I am reading Jane Austen A Life<\/i> by Claire Tomalin and it is fascinating. \u00a0I have loved Jane Austen for as long as I can remember and I enjoy reading about the little details of her life and personality. \u00a0Now, of course, Jane Austen went on to become a famous author and that isn’t going to happen to most of us. \u00a0And of course, the fact that she became famous and her books are beloved makes her more interesting. However, we like reading about her, not just because she became famous, but also because we like having a window into someone else’s life and thoughts.<\/p>\n

I wonder how many of us are just as interesting inside, we simply aren’t as good at expressing it in our letters as Jane Austen was. \u00a0I so wish more of them had survived. \u00a0Because really, Jane Austen was a woman just like us. \u00a0She had friends and family and flirtations and a social life. \u00a0She got annoyed with people and found people amusing. There were tragedies and disappointments in her life and there were moments of happiness and fun. \u00a0That is what the letters do for us. \u00a0They turn Jane Austen into a real person instead of only a famous author. \u00a0She becomes not only the woman who had to fit her writing in around her life but also the woman who had a life to fit in around her writing. \u00a0She was real. \u00a0She was interesting. \u00a0She was hugely talented but also normal.<\/p>\n

Wouldn’t you like to know a woman who says such things as<\/p>\n

We met not a creature at Mrs Lillingsone’s, & yet were not so very stupid as I expected, which I attribute to my wearing my new bonnet & being in good looks.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Or this quote, which is quite well known.<\/p>\n

\u00a0How horrible it is to have so many people killed! And what a blessing that one cares for none of them!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sometimes I think we can lose the real person in the icon. \u00a0Jane Austen is justly famous. \u00a0Her novels stand the test of time as few others do. \u00a0They are supremely readable and still as fresh and sparkling as when they were written years and years ago. \u00a0But Jane Austen wasn’t an icon, she was a friend, a daughter, a sister.<\/p>\n

I bet you anything that at ten years old she would have cried “write about me!” because she would have known she was interesting. \u00a0She would have been right. \u00a0It is too bad so many of us lose that conviction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

That was my daughter’s suggestion when I was trying to pick a topic for a blog post. \u00a0She suggested I write about her and her activities in the yard and that I follow her around outside and photograph her for my blog. Needless to say, I am not doing that but it did get me thinking. \u00a0When do we all lose that absolute self-confidence? \u00a0When do we lose the belief that we are interesting? \u00a0When do we lose the ability to say “here I am. \u00a0I am a fascinating person in my own way.”? Because we are fascinating and we are interesting and really, I just want to be ten again and be totally convinced that a blog post about me is a worthy topic. Right now I am reading Jane Austen A Life by Claire Tomalin and it is fascinating. \u00a0I have loved Jane Austen for as long as I can remember and I enjoy reading about the little details of her life and personality. \u00a0Now, of course, Jane Austen went on to become a famous author and that isn’t going to happen to most of us. \u00a0And of course, the fact that she became famous and her books are beloved makes her more interesting. However, we like reading about her, not just because she became famous, but also because we like having a window into someone else’s life and thoughts. I wonder how many of us are just as interesting inside, we simply aren’t as good at expressing it in our letters as Jane Austen was. \u00a0I so wish more of them had survived. \u00a0Because really, Jane Austen was a woman just like us. \u00a0She had friends and family and flirtations and a social life. \u00a0She got annoyed with people and found people amusing. There were tragedies and disappointments in her life and there were moments of happiness and fun. \u00a0That is what the letters do for us. \u00a0They turn Jane Austen into a real person instead of only a famous author. \u00a0She becomes not only the woman who had to fit her writing in around her life but also the woman who had a life to fit in around her writing. \u00a0She was real. \u00a0She was interesting. \u00a0She was hugely talented but also normal. Wouldn’t you like to know a woman who says such things as We met not a creature at Mrs Lillingsone’s, & yet were not so very stupid as I expected, which I attribute to my wearing my new bonnet & being in good looks.” Or this quote, which is quite well known. \u00a0How horrible it is to have so many people killed! And what a blessing that one cares for none of them! Sometimes I think we can lose the real person in the icon. \u00a0Jane Austen is justly famous. \u00a0Her novels stand the test of time as few others do. \u00a0They are supremely readable and still as fresh and sparkling as when they were written years and years ago. \u00a0But Jane Austen wasn’t an icon, she was a friend, a daughter, a sister. I bet you anything that at ten years old she would have cried “write about me!” because she would have known she was interesting. \u00a0She would have been right. \u00a0It is too bad so many of us lose that conviction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":671,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[47,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jane-austen","category-thoughts"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=349"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2857,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349\/revisions\/2857"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.holdsuponhappiness.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}