It was a real honour to be asked by Anna Richenda, recently, if I would review her new self-published novel, The Saint and the Fasting Girl. As a fan of HistoryFish.net her expansive website devoted to medieval religious topics, I had been reading progress reports in her blog about the book’s publication for some time. …
August 7, 2009 – 2:04 pm
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By David Morton
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Posted in Books, History, Medievalism, The Novel, The Writer's Struggle, Writing
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Tagged Anna Richenda, book review, fiction, Henry VIII, historyfish.net, medieval, novels, Saint and the Fasting Girl
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I wish I could say my recent hiatus from blog posting had resulted in a prodigious output in pages for my novel. Alas, nothing of the sort. I had taken time off work a few months ago that was a great boon to the novel, but my return to teaching has overwhelmed me. Not only …
A couple of weeks ago, I had my trial by fire. I attended a meeting of my erstwhile writers’ group and read a passage from my novel. I had taken a few weeks off work to make some headway on the novel and I had about 40 pages of material from which to choose a …
“Literature is a toil and a snare, a curse that bites deep.” Or so said D.H. Lawrence. Which gives me some comfort, because I seem to be doing all I can to avoid my writing, this morning. I’ve spent the last couple of hours brewing a Shitake Beef Stew that will be consumed tonight. I’ve …
March 24, 2009 – 8:00 am
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By David Morton
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Posted in History, Inspiration, Medievalism, The Writer's Struggle, Writing, blogs
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Tagged blogs, Detroit Publishing, DH Lawrence, History, inspiration, medieval, Medievalism, middle ages, monasticism, Oregon, Photochroms, procrastination, research, Richenda, Romantic poetry, Romanticism, Tintern Abbey, Washington, William Wordsworth, Writing
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It is dark and rainy in Vancouver. Spring should be evident by now, even if we haven’t officially entered the equinox. The cherry blossoms should be out, but there is no sign of them at all. It is cold and miserable. I have taken a few weeks off work to make inroads into my novel …
I’ve taken some time off work to give some overdue focus to the novel. For the past week, I’ve been buried in writing, re-evaluating what I’ve done, doing new research and striking off in new and exciting directions. It’s been a productive five days, I would say, and I feel a renewed sense of passion …
March 7, 2009 – 11:25 pm
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By David Morton
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Posted in Inspiration, The Novel, The Writer's Struggle, Writing
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Tagged Calais, Dover, France, inspiration, Kent, monasteries, monastery, monks, novel, Peasants Revolt, Richard II, Wat Tyler, Writing
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I had originally envisioned my novel taking place within the narrow confines of the monastery. The great advantage of staying inside is that life there is relatively simple. Yes, there are conflicts and sometimes even high drama, but compared to life outside the monastery, things inside are easy. Everything was going according to plan, but …
