Classics Challenge: Louisa May Alcott

"Money is the root of all evil, and yet it is such a useful root that we cannot get on without it any more than we can without potatoes." ~ Louisa May Alcott
Today is December 1st which marks the start of my year-long Classics Challenge. To kick things off, I'm starting with a book I own (but have never read) Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.
Who counted Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson as family friends?
Ms. Alcott.

Yes, miss. Louisa never married. Instead, she devoted her life and love to her writings. Though she wasn't always serious about her literary career. In fact, she dabbled in the published world for awhile, using pen names like Flora Fairfield and A.M. Barnard. It was the account of her experiences as a nurse in the Civil War that fortified her love for writing.
And Louisa May Alcott, the author, was born.
Louisa's most famous works are Little Women, Little Men, Eight Cousins, and Jo's Boys. She tried her hand at adult novels, but they didn't garner as much attention as her other writings. 
She lived to be 55 years old, dying almost the same day as her father.
Writerly Things to Learn from Louisa May Alcott:

1. Writing as a career can work, even for a woman in the 19th century.
2. Switching audiences is a difficult task for any writer, i.e. YA to Adult (and some are more successful than others).
3. Our lives make great fodder for our writing. The character Beth in Little Women was based of Louisa's sister, Elizabeth Alcott, who died at the age of 22. In an even broader spectrum, Little Women was Louisa's idealized version of her family. 
4. After death, every famous writer's works will be published. In other words, if you don't want some manuscripts to ever see the light of day, either burn them or put it in your will with capital letters. Louisa's first novel, The Inheritance, based strongly off Jane Eyre was published after someone discovered it posthumously, wherever Louisa had hidden it. I wonder if she'd be happy about that!
I look forward to reading Little Women for the first time. Hopefully watching the movie won't spoil it for me.
You're welcome to join in! Classics Challenge is fun, impromptu book club for all. See you at the end of December!