Yours Faithfully, Amanda

October 31, 2017 Dear Jane, I write to you after a rather long reprieve, and for this I must apologize. In truth, I do not quite know the reason for it, though it is most likely a mixture of laziness, being engaged in various activities and then, I fear, a bit more laziness. Please, do forgive me, dear friend! Anyway, I write to you on this, one of my favorite holidays, All Hallows Eve (better known as Halloween). Even when I have no engagements to speak of (such as plans to beg neighbors for candy, dinner parties, balls, etc.), it is still a day filled with magic, mystery and possibility! If there are any naysayers out there who doubt this magic, then I put this question to them: As a notoriously slothful individual, what could suddenly possess me to take up my pen and write a letter to my favorite authoress if not for pure, unadulterated magic? The answer? Nothing. Eighteenth-century quill drop. Now then, since last I wrote much has happened. Firstly (and most importantly) my...

October 31, 2014 Dear Jane, Jane Austen: All Hallows Eve Edition The above quotation from your fine novel, Northanger Abbey  is exactly the kind of quotation that I was searching for to set the chilling tone of my "Halloween" letter to you,  for what is more frighftul than a past, present and future plunged equally in doom? As I write to you on All Hallow's Eve, I realize that I have absolutely no intriguing gossip or exciting to news to relate to you, and for this I must apologize. Pray, what good is a correspondent who has no scandals to spread? Nevertheless, fear not, Miss Austen, for I have decided to invent a haunting tale to entertain you on this gloomy, autumnal day. Whether or not it will be satisfactory, however, I cannot say.  Before I begin my thrilling tale, I must own that I did make two notes on my cellular device that I wished to recount to you. As per usual, they are quite silly and are of very little importance: "Lady at dunkin donuts ...