✿ January Spotlight: Isla Jane on Writing Her First Book
The cornerstones of my writing skills are writing pieces for myself, voracious reading of fiction books, and the lessons I picked up from joining student publications back in college.
When people say you need to make a name for yourself to succeed in this world, I may have taken that advice literally. Isla Jane Noriega is the home I made for my creative self. It's a nod to my home island, Cebu, though I am a city girl through and through.
Although my academic and work background focuses on management accounting and finance, I thrive better in words and become the occasional Grammar Nazi.
My mother's side of the family has dabbled in the arts, whether that be performance or literary arts. Though these are my roots, I felt more at home with the written word. It started with language, my fascination with spelling and vocabulary, since I apparently had good memory recall for that. Care for proper grammar and pronunciation followed. Lessons on subject-verb agreement didn't faze me when I was young. I daresay it felt like the most effortless thing I ever got to learn in school. It felt like breathing.
Then came reading, a way to pick up stories without talking too much. When my tween heart felt like it held too many emotions for it to bear, I turned to writing. There are some things about reading that I find endearing even after all this time. It's a great way to access all sorts of knowledge without much physical effort. You can do it anywhere and it generally doesn't disturb anyone. But most importantly, storytelling for performance and literary arts are two different things and with the latter, you literally get to see how the story unfolds at your own pace and be transported elsewhere. Plus, there is less guilt in placing a story on hold.
Books, unlike people, can wait for a long time.
For my love of collecting books, I think it's safe to say that my schools' libraries and that specific scene in Beauty and the Beast did the most to spark my interest.
Who are some authors you've enjoyed reading?
I love Gail Carriger's work, especially for supernatural steampunk where she presents so much wit and love in her characters while creating an expansive world that is both logical and whimsical at the same time.
What's the most unexpected book that impacted you deeply? Tell us why it resonated with you.
That has to be "The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America" by David Whyte. It's a diamond in the rough among the various books in a Booksale branch since it was in good condition and only sold for PHP 20! The main title may fool you but if you're a creative soul in the workforce, this might be for you. Whyte's book is, for me, a literary analysis with a dash of self-help, a combination that I thought would never work but actually did, to my delight.
Photo by Helen Woodward
How has your perspective about book-reading changed overtime?
I guess my perspective about book reading shifted to this protective instinct over time, especially with the concerns regarding AI usage in different fields. Book reading shows our appreciation for authors of all kinds and the incredible power of the human imagination.
WRITING THE JANUS-FACED JOURNAL
Could you walk us through the journey of writing The Janus-faced Journal? How did that initial spark evolve into a fully realized book?
The Janus-faced Journal simply started as a compilation of write-ups for the 2023 edition of the 31Letters challenge, 8Letters Bookstore & Publishing's annual writing challenge done every January to write every day for a month. I knew beforehand that there were people who would be selected to have their compilations published as a booklet but that honestly wasn't my target as it was my first time joining the challenge. Unlike the other published booklets from the challenge, I did not have a plan or theme going on other than making sure I wrote poems on odd days and prose or personal essays on even days. I was impulsively tapping on my phone, making most of the notes app.
Many of the entries in my collection were written during odd hours of the day (or technically, night) when my train of thought was less likely to be disturbed.
I aimed to finish the challenge in one piece so imagine my surprise when I received not only a certification of completion for my compilation but also an opportunity to sign with 8Letters to have it published as well with an ISBN!
What's the story behind the title?
Out of the slush that was my compilation, I was able to identify two certain things: that the pieces I wrote showed a portion of what I thought and felt for a month & the emotions I was trying to evoke in my pieces would lead the reader in different directions. It is literally a Janus-faced (having two contrasting aspects) journal (a record of ideas in a period of time).
What themes or messages are woven into the fabric of your writing? What do you hope readers take away from your work?
Even if my accidental literary debut is as erratic as it may seem, I hope readers find some method to my madness and realize that I have given them a candid piece of myself that I cannot hide or retract. A month's worth of unfiltered ideas borne from an actual human being, originally written to satisfy the writer alone, is out there for the world to see.
INSPIRING OTHERS TO TAKE THE LEAP
What would you consider your biggest obstacle in writing a book?
It's probably deciding what you want to write and simultaneously sticking to the plan and giving yourself leeway when you get a Eureka moment along the way. Since I had no expectations when I first joined the 31Letters challenge last year, I didn't have that problem bothering me when writing my pieces. This time around, writer's block and procrastination creep up on me almost every day because I chose a theme months ahead to make my compilation more cohesive. I don't like setting my creative goals in stone so I'm still getting used to the structure I gave myself.
Are there any writing tools, courses, or resources that you found particularly helpful on your journey?
Getting to write "formally" (not relying on instinct for direction) is still fairly new to me. In my case, the cornerstones of my writing skills are writing pieces for myself, voracious reading of fiction books, and the lessons I picked up from joining student publications back when I was in college and applying for writing workshops when I started working. It doesn't mean you can't trust your gut at all. That's what close reading and practice writing are for. If you have the chance and time to actively participate in writing clubs, especially school-based ones where you'll have multiple opportunities to write various pieces, please do so. When you're confident enough to share your work outside your student pub circles, try opening yourself up to critique by applying to local writing workshops. And when you have time to scour the internet, peruse the search results for writing resources from reputable organizations.
How did the book community play a part in your writing journey?
In many ways, the book community as a whole has reminded me that there is surely a reader for every writer. What we regularly do on book-related social media circles may be the up-and-coming for certain genres but their increased visibility doesn't mean the absence of other kinds of storytelling. Finding your ideal book (as a reader) and your ideal audience (as an author) may feel futile but hey, at least your chances are better than finding a significant other in today's dating climate.
Big Bad Wolf Cebu 2023. Impromptu Book Signing at Book Chickas PH meetup.
You can call yourselves writers as early as now the same way you call yourselves readers. Like what many creatives ahead of me have said, if you love doing something so much that you can't stand the idea of parting from it, it's worth pursuing.
Hang on to the words of support and encouragement you received over the years and have faith in them. And most importantly, believe in yourself and be gracious to your abilities.
HOW TO SUPPORT
I hope to see you on my socials on Facebook (Isla Jane Noriega) and Instagram (@ijnescentwrit). Grab a copy of "The Janus-faced Journal" from 8Letters on Shopee and if you enjoyed my work, make sure to write a review on Goodreads and The Storygraph. More links and info are on my website at https://islajanenoriega.wixsite.com/author.
Thank you so much for your time, dear reader! 💜
📚 "The Janus-faced Journal" from 8Letters on Shopee
Thank you for being here! Isla's story is the very first one we published under Bookfitter Spotlight. Our theme for January is ‘new beginnings,’ and we wanted to feature someone breaking free from limitations and pursuing a dream
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a unique endeavor, a creative leap, or a journey to finding their own voice this 2024.
Leave a comment for us to read! We'd love to hear your thoughts.