My previous post was about staying connected.  Immediately following, my thoughts turned to staying inspired and motivated.  I recently purchased an iPhone.  It was not an item that I wanted or even thought I needed.  Our old phones were on their last leg, and for the price and value, the iPhone seemed practical.  I had no idea what I was missing!  I was never and will never be one to update my Face Book status every 16 seconds.  Personally, I think that there is such a thing as too much information on the web.  I really don’t need to know that an old friend is about to step into the hot tub with her husband.  Just step in!  It’s none of my business, but since you mentioned it, I’m really happy for you, so enjoy!  On the whole staying connected is much easier with the iPhone.  I can respond immediately to emails, I have my calendar programmed with alerts which helps me juggle all my worlds and stay organized, plus I use the notes feature for my shopping lists and other reminders.  I no longer run the risk of leaving notes and lists back at the house or in another bag. I have all that I need to stay on track right there in my pocket.

This leads me to Jane Austen.  Interesting segue, right?  Some of you might know that Jane Austen is one of my heroes.  Talk about inspiration!  Honesty in relationships is important to me in my life and in my writing.  From my perspective, Jane covered it all first.  Every important relationship dynamic and structure can be found within her complete works.  My husband once challenged me on this topic.  He listed characters from movies or books and for every relationship I told him within which of her books Jane wrote it first.  Of course, ultimately she might not have written it first, but for me, she wrote it best!  I find that while I don’t write in the same style or voice as Jane, my writing is stronger when I’m reading one of her books.  This brings me to the title of this blog.  I found a Jane Austen App for my iPhone!  I now have the complete works of Jane Austen at my fingertips at all times.  I will never be caught waiting in a line or doctor’s office again without having something to read, and not just any old something, but classics like Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility, or my favorites, Emma and Persuasion.  Through the invention of technology, inspiration is now just a touch of the screen away!  It is somehow comforting to know that I now have Jane in my pocket!