March!

March reminds us all of Louisa May Alcott. Full House, Fuller House…the house with the most longevity is the home of genteel poverty filled with the gentle spirits of the March family-Amy, Beth, Meg, Jo and Marmee. Little Women has never been out of print since its release in 1868 and and there have been many adaptations through the years.

We writers can learn much from Louisa May Alcott. To celebrate the Ides of March, here are 15 thoughts from a writer’s point of view about Little Women:

If only I kept all the promises I make, I should be the best girl in the world. But I don’t, and so I am very bad. Louisa May Alcott

1. The first printing of 2,000 copies, in purple, green and terra cotta cloth sold out quickly in the United States. Two hundred fifty sheets were shipped to England for issue. All copies dated 1868 are the first printing and a first edition copy is now worth between $15,000 to $20,000. In 1868, the book cost $1.25.
2. Bronson Alcott, Louisa’s father, required Louisa and her sisters to keep journals as soon as they could write. By the time Mr. Alcott was 82, his journal comprised 61 volumes.
3. Louisa learned her first letters through charades- by forming the letters with her body. “I” was created by standing straight and tall; “X” was made by stretching out both arms and legs.
4. Louisa May Alcott was the first woman registered to vote in Concord, Massachusetts. Louisa was active in movements such as abolitionism, feminism, and the suffrage movement.
5. Louisa may have been the first female to take up daily jogging and she was a vegetarian. She was influenced to lead a life of minimalism by her father and their friends Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. The Alcotts lived on a commune, Fruitland, and refrained from eating any food products produced by slavery such as coffee or tea.
6. Little Women is autobiographical. Many of the characters in Little Women were based on friends and family members and some were embarrassed about that! We writers still use our loved ones in our books.
7. Miss Alcott’s first book, Flower Fables (1854) was a collection of tales originally created to amuse Ralph Waldo Emerson’s daughter.
8. Like many of us modern writers, Louisa had other jobs before she became a famous and successful author. She worked as a servant, seamstress, and served as a nurse during the Civil War. She may also have worked as an actress under a different name.
9. Louisa May Alcott had to bend to the will of her publisher, Thomas Niles. Louisa wanted to publish a collection of her short stories. The publisher recommended that she write a book about girls. “I said I’d try, ” Louisa said at first. Later in her journal she noted, “I plod away” (on Little Women). “I don’t enjoy this sort of things.”
10. For those of you who like trivia: pickled limes are mentioned in Little Women. They were indeed limes that were pickled and were popular with nineteenth century school children.
11. Alcott wrote two sequels to her popular work, Little Men (1871) and Jo’s Boys (1886) both of which featured the March sisters. Sequels are still popular in today’s writing world!
12. http://wp.me/p6QlrY-9v

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    Alcott created a new form of literature by combining elements of romantic and sentimental novels

13. After Ms. Alcott  sent the first dozen chapters to her publisher, they both agreed- “Dull!” But the publisher’s niece read them and said she enjoyed them. The completed manuscript was shown to several girls, who agreed it was “splendid”. Alcott wrote, “they are the best critics, so I should definitely be satisfied.” Writers take heed- beta readers are helpful!
14. In addition to many film, television, and stage versions through the years, a musical of Little Women was performed on Broadway in 2005. Writers- we can dream!
15. Little Women presented the regular lives of American middle-class girls and presented its young readers with the dream of achieving more in their lives.  More young women started writing stories that had adventurous plots and stories of individual achievement.

Yes, writers, books change lives!