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 of ink cartridges) but have also produced my novelling playlists. I’ve created six – a T Minus list for the build-up and then a different one for each week of the actual writing. I suspect the day might have been more profitable if I’d been thinking about the plot, characters and setting… but there’s always tomorrow for that.
The T Minus list
- Miles is a Cigarette – Chris Rea (more to do with anticipated stress levels than the actual novel)
- Because it’s There – Haken
- Time for a Change – Pendragon
- New Horizons – The Moody Blues
- In for a Penny – Slade
- Que Sera – Chris Rea
- Lady Writer – Dire Straits
- Invisible Ink – Marillion
- Sandwriting – Chris Rea
- Pretty Paper – Roy Orbison (I now realise this is about Christmas wrapping paper and not exciting stationery to inspire the budding novelist, it might get deleted)
- Jane Austen’s Door – Steve Hackett (any crumbs from the Austen table are welcome)
- An Occasional Dream – David Bowie
- Daydream Believer – The Monkees
- Daydream Believer – Robson & Jerome
- I have a Dream – Abba
- All I have to do is Dream – Roy Orbison
- More than a Dream – The Pet Shop Boys
- If I can Dream – Robson & Jerome
- Elusive Dreams – Nancy Sinatra
- Dreamer – Supertramp
- Dreaming – Blondie
- Looking for Fantasy – Steve Hackett (as in the dream, not the genre)
- Castles in the Air – Don McLean
- Clueless – Knight Area
- Rebel without a Clue – Bonnie Tyler
- The Pretender – Jackson Browne
- The Great Pretender – Roy Orbison
- No Qualifications – Chris Rea
- Why Don’t You Write Me – Simon & Garfunkel
- What a Fool Believes – The Doobie Brothers
- Madness – Elton John
- Believe – Pendragon
- I’m not Afraid – Black
- The Pleasure of Hope – Pendragon
- High Hopes – Pink Floyd
- Fearless – Clepsydra
- Perfect Tense – Kino (Let’s hope so)
- Nothing’s Forever – Asia
- Livin’ on a Prayer – Bon Jovi
- It ain’t gonna be Easy – Elton John