Author Archives: Janna G. Noelle

Any Given Sunday in the Middle Ages (Medieval Mondays #9b)

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As discussed in the previous post on the medieval Church, church life in the Middle Ages was life.

The services it provided contributed to every key turning point in people’s existence.  According to John R.H. Moorman, author of Church Life in the Thirteenth Century,

It gave first, the regular worship of the Church on Sundays and weekdays.  It gave also the opportunities of Christian baptism, matrimony and burial, together with a little teaching and some spiritual direction mainly administered in the confessional.  Further, it offered to the sick and the dying spiritual comfort and perhaps, in some places, medical help as well. (p. 151)

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2017: The Year That Was, 2018: The Year That Will Be (For Me)

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I remember during the final days of 2015 telling a friend the following:

“I’m looking forward to 2016.  Even-numbered years are always great years.”

To be honest, I’m not even sure what data I was basing that assessment on.  When I think of recent even-numbered years, no especially noteworthy occurrences immediately spring to mind.

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That Time I Wrote a Christmas Song

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I am a writer—a good one.  And once upon a time, I just assumed that applied to all types of writing.

I tend to assume a lot of things about my skills and abilities in general.  Like that time I took tennis lessons.

I’m a pretty fit and active person, so I just assumed I’d channel my inner Serena Williams and kick ass at it.

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Thoughts on Reading Through My Novel’s Third Draft

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Three drafts of my WIP: first (in the box), second (blue), and third (clear)

In truth, the title to this post should actually be as follows:

“Thoughts on Reading Through My Novel’s Third Draft and Completing My Fourth Draft at More or Less the Same Time”.

Because that is how it went down.

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(Church) Life in the Middle Ages (Medieval Mondays #9a)

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In the medieval world, the influence of the Church was ubiquitous.

The average modern inhabitant of the western world, even a religious one, might struggle to conceive of how much this was the case.

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Random Sh*t I Want for My Upcoming Birthday

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We are, so the song goes, living in a material world.

And I am most definitely not a material girl.

Honestly, I’ve never really been into “stuff”; not since I became an adult and especially not since I became an environmentalist.

Or a writer, for that matter, since this means I have a never-ending stream of personally curated entertainment at the ready inside my head at all times.

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New Music for 2017: Tunes to Write and Study By

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I’ve previously mentioned that between 60-70% of my music collection is music for studying or writing to.

In truth, it’s probably closer to 80-85%.

The reasons for this are obvious to me.  I began collecting music in earnest when I first started having money of my own for some luxury items.  This corresponded with my first entering university, which saw me spending the majority of my time outside of class studying and completing assignments.

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Thoughts on Having an Excerpt of My Novel Read By a Literary Agent

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I’ve always believed that I’m a good writer.  But at the same time, I’ve always believed I still have much to learn.

At the intersection of these two opposing ideas is the place where I wonder whether, at this moment, I’m good enough for traditional publication.

Whether my historical fiction WIP, which I’ve believed in long enough to have now gone through three (soon to be four) drafts, is now good enough to at least pique the interest of a publishing professional, let alone snag and hold that interest for the duration.

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