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…
DelNovember 8, 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…
DelNovember 7, 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…
DelNovember 6, 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…
DelNovember 5, 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…
DelNovember 4, 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…
DelNovember 3, 2016
I’m really struggling with this one – no, not day 2 of NaNoWriMo, for I had that in the bag before the third coffee this morning – but the problem of how to get off the grid. Rather than cutting…
DelNovember 2, 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…
DelNovember 1, 2016
Just realised I should have had a Halloween one in there for today - there are enough cobwebs, pumpkins and heaven knows what festooning the steps and railings of SW3. Much of October has been dedicated to finding prompts and…
DelOctober 31, 2016
Where have you been? It’s alright we know where you’ve been. I was excited to be at the opening of Eyes-On 2016, the European Month of Photography in Vienna. The opening show was Looking for the Clouds: Contemporary Photography in…
DelOctober 30, 2016
The details of my own kleine Ausstellung were finalised over Sekt at Café Ritter. #excited Wir sind am Ziel Where? Sixta, Schönbrunnerstraße 21, 1050 Wien When? 25 November – 30. November What time? 18.00 – 22.00 (closed Monday; Ruhetag Montag)…
DelOctober 27, 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…
DelOctober 20, 2016
Great weekend on Peter Fraser’s Beyond the Surface workshop. An illuminating and interesting approach to finding your inner photographer, but I'm saying nothing further as it would contain a spoiler for any of you planning on taking this workshop when…
DelOctober 17, 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…
DelOctober 12, 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…
DelOctober 9, 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?…
DelOctober 7, 2016