I find most home furnishing departments dull, desperately dull. Just how many shades of mushroom and grey does a girl need? To be in the right frame for novelling, I need brightness and colour around me, not beige. At least,…
Del19th November 2016
A few more words uploaded this morning and I earned my 40,000 word badge. Only two more to go, the 50,000 ‘winner’ badge and the ‘wordcount uploaded thirty days in a row’ badge. It is quite exhausting trying to fit…
Del17th November 2016
The novel is coming on apace. I uploaded another 2,522 words this morning bringing my total to 35,172. My right hand is feeling comfortably numb because most of those words have been written in fountain pen, as I do most…
Del15th November 2016
Today is Remembrance Sunday and MisterMac and I have resplendent home-made poppies – thanks Cathryn! Although the UK acknowledges 11/11 as Armistice Day, we still hold our major ceremonies on the nearest Sunday, unlike the French who hold their National…
Del13th November 2016
Paris, love and cliches Did I mention I was going to Paris? The French know how to enjoy a bit of the dolce vita - or la belle vie, as I suppose one should say. They say that Paris is…
Del10th November 2016
We are what we are. I am an aspiring novelist (at least for the month of November) and Evelyn Waugh was a great novelist. There is a world-wide pool of advice that tells the aspiring novelist what to do, but…
Del8th November 2016
One of the interesting side observations about writing a novel is watching the adverts on Facebook and other websites adapt to my novelling-research surfing habits, which are now intense bursts of activity about the subject matter for the chapter in…
Del7th November 2016
Does a good novel need good sex? Some clearly do. Where would Lady Chatterley’s Lover be sans sex? Could 50 Shades of Grey work without any fornication? But for others, I do wonder if the sex has been added as…
Del6th November 2016
Today was double-up day on NaNo. And I did it! I started the day with 7,093 words and finished with 16,641. I am totally and utterly exhausted, I have dashed around Paris, fallen in love, eaten too many oysters, done…
Del5th November 2016
Is it really only day 4 of the novelling adventure? I feel as though I’ve been in this novel for much longer, which, I suppose in my head, I have been. I’m slightly ahead of target as I sailed through the…
Del4th November 2016
‘The connection between authors, and coffee-houses must be kept up’ to misquote Boswell. Where would Pepys have been without his visits to the coffee-houses and his shagg gowne? The latter having little to do with coffee and much to do…
Del3rd November 2016
My first day of my first NaNo (#NaNoWriMo2016) and NaBloPoMo and I am utterly and totally exhausted. I’d like to say it was because the phantom pen has been working a long shift to get a good start to the…
Del1st November 2016
Fab evening at the Horse Hospital. Organized by Travis Elborough, starring Geoff Nicholson and friends. As I embark on the great novelling escapade, I thought I would pick the brains of the novelists around the table for useful tips on…
Del20th October 2016
Enough messing around with stationery, playlists and excuses ... it’s time to get serious about this if I’m going to start and finish a novel in thirty days. Tonight I’ll mainly be character building. Despite the picture, this will not…
Del12th October 2016
With twenty-three days to go until the start of The Phantom Pen, today has seen the novelling action move into a higher gear. I’ve not only done some online shopping (essential books, five reams of paper and a jumbo box…
Del9th October 2016
I’ve pledged to do it … How many times have you read a novel, tossed it aside in disgust and muttered “I could do much better than that”? So why don’t you? Because it’s not as easy as it looks?…
Del7th October 2016