She followed her dream, wrote a book

A lot of people dream of writing and publishing a book, but never do it.

Retired teacher Regina Montenaro did it.

Her 12^th book, "Christmas at Pemberley," was released Nov. 8 by Ulysses Press, just in time for Jane Austen's birthday on Dec. 16.

Montenaro, who uses her maiden name, Regina Jeffers, has been holding book signings at area stores, and she will be featured at several Union County library events planned as part of Austen's birthday celebration.

It's fitting that she's celebrating Austen's birthday. Her debt to the British writer is significant. The book "Pride and Prejudice," which she first read at age 12, helped launch her love of reading.

"It was kind of a turning point for me," she says.

She says she's read the book "at least 100 times" and can quote portions from memory.

Austen also helped Montenaro launch her publishing career. She recalls talking to her students at Porter Ridge High School about "the nuances in regency England" and the modern writers who write sequels and "what ifs" around Austen's stories and characters.

"One of my students said, 'If you know how to do that, why don't you do it yourself?'" she recalls.

So she did.

In 2008, she self-published the book "Darcy's Passions," which tells the "Pride and Prejudice" story from Mr. Darcy's point of view. She paid one of her students to illustrate the cover.

Ulysses Press saw information about the book's sales on Amazon.com and offered to publish it.

"And I've been with them ever since," she says.

Some of her books put a creative spin on Austen's stories. For example, "Honor and Hope" re-creates Austen's characters in the present, as students at Western Carolina University. Her son attended college there.

Another of her books, "Vampire Darcy's Desire," presents Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice - as a heart-pounding vampire romance," according to her website, www.rjeffers.com.

The vampire idea "was actually a request from Ulysses to me," she says, describing herself as someone who's "never been a paranormal enthusiast."

Despite that, Montenaro does have a vampire in her background. She worked for a media agent long ago, performing a publicity stunt with Jonathan Frid, the actor who portrayed Barnabus Collins in the old television show "Dark Shadows." She was in the audience when he appeared to randomly select her, bite her on the neck and place her in a coffin.

But that was before she launched her 40-year career as a teacher in West Virginia, Ohio and North Carolina.

She moved to Union County in 2003, after teaching for 20 years in Ohio.

She first worked at Parkwood High School and transferred to Porter Ridge when it opened in 2005. One of her PRHS students, Lindsey Bell showed up at her book signing at The Arboretum's Barnes & Noble store on Nov. 19 and fondly identified Montenaro as "the teacher who taught me how to write."

Now that she is retired, the Lake Park resident has more time to devote to reading, writing and blogging.

She laughs about the necessity for writers to have Twitter and Facebook accounts, and says she spends "at least two hours a day" increasing her visibility through those sites.

"I'm still pretty much old school," she says, explaining she likes the "tactile" process of putting pen to paper. "And then I word process them."

Her efforts have paid off. She has fans in England, Italy, Scotland, Germany and Brazil, and has sold more than 100,000 books.