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The Age of Glass

Thanks to my good friend Dee, our heroine Madzi manages to find gainful employment.  Not giving too much of the game away at this stage, but it involves glassware, tableware and an oyster bar called Oberts, although it might not…
Del
November 21, 2016
BlogProgThe Phantom Pen

The Letter

When was the last time you received a personal letter that was hand-written and just full of news, gossip, chit-chat and a pleasure to read?  I’ve discovered that the letter is an excellent device for changing the plot, introducing a…
Del
November 20, 2016
BlogProgThe Phantom Pen

A State of Grace

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,…
Del
November 19, 2016
BlogThe Phantom Pen

Dear Someone

Somewhere 18th November 2016 Dear Someone, My amazing, wonderful sister-in-law aka Wilcey is doing the most remarkable challenge to raise money for MacMillan Cancer Support because, as she says, ‘Sometimes it’s time to say “Thanks”’. Next April, she’ll be walking…
Del
November 18, 2016
BlogThe Phantom Pen

Beaujolais Day

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…
Del
November 17, 2016
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Masters of Illusion

Number 30, Wellington Square, SW3 looks like another Chelsea house, but this one is different, for this one was once home to a man, who was a friend of Ian Fleming, and upon whom, allegedly, the character James Bond was…
Del
November 16, 2016
BlogThe Phantom Pen

Comfortably Numb

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…
Del
November 15, 2016
BlogThe Phantom Pen

Passion

Today has been full of passion.  Passion for books (cataloguing and shelving my new purchases) and seeking passion for the novel. Let’s start with the new books and today’s pick from Paris is LNDN by Jens Masmann.  Even without the…
Del
November 14, 2016
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Forgotten Sons

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…
Del
November 13, 2016
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Snail

I am a book junkie.  And the book-signings at PP tap into my weakness.  I buy more books than I can reasonably carry, dislocate my arms getting them back to the hotel, vow never to do it again and then,…
Del
November 12, 2016
BlogPicturesThe Phantom Pen

Darktown

Although Paris Photo is an impressive way to see a lot of work in a short space of time, the Grand Palais can be a bit like a zoo, so today was about sampling the edges. I had intended to…
Del
November 11, 2016
BlogPicturesThe Phantom Pen

Down The Dolce Vita

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…
Del
November 10, 2016
BlogThe Phantom Pen

Fugazi

My draft girl-power post had to be binned this morning. Today, unusually for me, I am in the a-picture-paints-1000-words camp. In other news, I managed another 1,700 words this morning bringing my #NaNoWriMo2016 total to 23,944, but this pales into…
Del
November 9, 2016
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We Are What We Are

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…
Del
November 8, 2016
BlogThe Phantom Pen

Saevis tranquillis in undis

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…
Del
November 7, 2016
BlogSelected PostsThe Phantom Pen

Secret Kingdoms

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…
Del
November 6, 2016
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Call To Arms

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…
Del
November 5, 2016
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Small Talk

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…
Del
November 4, 2016
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Warm Wet Circles

‘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…
Del
November 3, 2016
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Vanishing Act

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…
Del
November 2, 2016