September 2009 – The World of the Blue Bells Trilogy

Posted on September 28, 2009September 28, 2009 by Laura

As I’ve researched more into the world of medieval Scotland, my interest in other fiction set in medieval times has grown. I was lucky enough to find Nan Hawthorne’s site Medieval Novels which aims to be a comprehensive list of fiction set in medieval times. She has arranged her page in several helpful ways– by time […]

Category:Authors, Music, Writing

Taggedmedieval fiction, Medieval-books, music fiction, music themes, Nan Hawthorne, Norah Lofts, Rose Tremain

Posted on September 20, 2009September 20, 2009 by Laura

Hogmanay is a Scottish celebration that occurs in The Minstrel Boy, book 2 of The Blue Bells Trilogy. It is the Scottish New Year’s Eve celebration, although by all accounts, much wilder than how your average American rings in the New Year. With roots going back so far that the origin of the word itself is […]

Category:Research, Social Customs

Taggedceilidhs, Hogmanay, medieval, Minstrel Boy

Posted on September 20, 2009September 22, 2009 by Laura

The past week has been hectic, to say the least. Blue Bells of Scotland was officially published just over a week ago on Friday, September 11, 2009. Within 2 days, it was live on amazon. It took another 2 days before it was searchable by title, author, and ISBN (because lots of people search by […]

Category:Authors, Writing

Taggedamazon, Author Talk, Barnes and Noble, buffalo books, goodreads, Kindle, librarything, Night Writers, publication, shelfari

Posted on September 12, 2009September 12, 2009 by Laura

What jumped out at me, the more education I got, was how much there is to know, and how little of that any one person can touch even in a lifetime. There’s a vast world of knowledge in just one small corner of one subject– say learning all about jazz as a music major. There’s […]

Category:Architechture, Research, Writing

TaggedBenedictines, cathedrals, churches, Cistercian, gothic, medieval, Research

Posted on September 9, 2009September 9, 2009 by Laura

In our day and age, we’re used to having– or at least thinking we have– clear cut answers. We can visit a library, read a newspaper, turn on the news, plug in keywords on google. When it comes to historical research, however, especially going back to medieval times and further, the answers are not always clear […]

Category:Clan History

TaggedCampbell, clans, heraldry

Month: September 2009

Medieval Fiction

Hogmanay

A Red Letter Week

My Favorite Part of Research…

The Problem with Research