On Recognizing the Interim Rewards of Writing

Posted on July 11, 2016 by Janna G. Noelle

My chapter revision tracking system, with special emphasis given to chapters 7, 15, 21, and 30 (formerly 31)

My chapter revision tracking system for draft 2, with special emphasis given to chapters 7, 15, 21, and 30 (formerly 31)

The ultimate reward of writing, obviously, is publishing a book and having it read to widespread appeal.

But long before reaching that point, should a writer reward the intermediate stages of his/her writing journey?

In the past, I’ve written not only about both the importance of goal-setting, but also of ensuring your goals have corresponding plans to power their fulfillment.

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Un/happily Married in the Middle Ages (Medieval Mondays #5c)

Posted on June 27, 2016 by Janna G. Noelle

Medieval marriage, much like medieval society as a whole, was not an institution of equality between both partners.

For the medieval woman, marriage did dramatically increase her prestige compared to an unmarried girl, who had no real occupation or standing in her household and spent most of her time in the company of older female chaperones.

Medieval woman thus looked forward to marriage and the subsequent establishment of a home that was independent of those of their parents.

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Thoughts on Re-Rewriting My Novel’s First Chapter

Posted on June 6, 2016 by Janna G. Noelle

Not the “re-re” I’m referring to, but like the Bajan beauty in her famous revenge video, I had to get tough on this chapter

Writing is rewriting.

So the popular, and unfortunately, all too true saying goes.

After working on the first draft my historical fiction trilogy for the better part of three years (with a long, six-year hiatus in between), I was ecstatic to finally get started on draft two of book #1 back in January of this year.

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A Nice Day (Eventually) for a White Wedding in the Middle Ages (Medieval Mondays #5b)

Posted on May 30, 2016 by Janna G. Noelle

Medieval wedding ceremony (note the location and the bride’s dress)

In modern times, when a couple gets engaged to be married, they next begin planning the wedding celebration.

In the medieval times, long before the engagement, after overcoming the various challenges of finding a suitable partner discussed in last month’s post, the next step was to plan for death. In particular, that of the man.

That is to say, there would be negotiations regarding the endowments the would-be bride and groom would grant each other.

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Love and Marriage in the Middle Ages (Medieval Mondays #5a)

Posted on April 25, 2016 by Janna G. Noelle

A medieval betrothal

Getting married in the medieval times was a complicated business.

On the one hand, it seemed straightforward enough – far less complicated than today:

Almost every man and woman could reasonably expect to someday wed.
The definition of marriage was not contested as it often is today: there was no same-sex marriage or common law marriage or the modern legal and political wrangling commonly associated with these.
Wedding ceremonies themselves were quite simple, wholly untouched by today’s wedding industrial complex.
Divorce was illegal, so when two people married, it was (in almost all cases) literally unto death.

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Revising is Hard, But Not in the Way I Expected

Posted on April 18, 2016 by Janna G. Noelle

I’ve now been actively revising my WIP for about three-and-a-half months.

I have to admit, I haven’t progressed nearly as far as I’d anticipated, to date having reworked only seven chapters out of a total 31. And that’s not counting the fact I have to go over chapters 1-3 all over again.

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The Things We Do for Love (of Writing)

Posted on March 14, 2016 by Janna G. Noelle

I’ve had a cough for the last three months.

Coughing isn’t a customary occurrence for me. Neither is having any sort of illness linger for so long.

Part of the problem is that the cough, if one can be said to be such, is largely asymptomatic. Which is to say a cough is all I have: no sneezing and sniffling of a cold, no aches and pains and lethargy of the flu.

Even the doctor says there’s nothing pathologically wrong with me.

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Lifestyles of the Rich (and Poor) & Feudal – pt. 2 (Medieval Mondays #4c)

Posted on February 29, 2016 by Janna G. Noelle

(Continued from part 1)

Despite the fact they resided at the top of the feudal pyramid, medieval noblemen were not all created equally.

Rather, noblemen were subdivided based on whether they were lords, heirs, or younger sons.

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The Day(s) I Became a Writer

Posted on February 22, 2016 by Janna G. Noelle

As far as months go, I can’t say I care much for February.

This isn’t for the reason most might expect. It’s not the weather. For most of Canada, February is dark, cheerless, and frigid – the furthest thing from the festive winter wonderland of a couple months prior.

I experienced 30 straight years of that. But now, living on the west coast in Vancouver, February days are noticeably longer, the temperatures rest well above zero (some winters, it never even goes below freezing), and although it rains for days and weeks on end, at least you don’t have to shovel.

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Thoughts on Revising My Novel’s First Chapter

Posted on February 8, 2016 by Janna G. Noelle

One chapter down, 30 more to go (in this draft)

For a while, I honestly thought this day would never come: the day I finally got to start revising my WIP.

I never set out to write a trilogy. That’s a whole lot of writing for anyone, but for me, being such a slow writer to boot, it at times felt near-insurmountable.

I’m convinced the only thing that got me to THE END of the first draft was the iron-like strength of my discipline. I may have many shortcomings as a writer, but showed up at the page is not one of them.

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