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Monday, 30 October 2023
Saturday, 7 October 2023
Getting back on track.
Blog post for September 2023
Going down rabbit holes.
Once again I look back through my diary entries for
September and see my daily entries are all very similar. The main difference is
the amount of research I’m doing for a planned novel (maybe a series) about
Occupied Paris in 1940. The books I’ve bought for my research cover the years
1940-1944, so the early stages of my research means I will only use about a
third of the material, maybe less, for now. But before I talk about that, a
little about what I did during September.
I took Tuppence to the vet to have her teeth cleaned. I’ve
been advised on how I should clean her teeth. Trouble is — Tuppence won’t let
me, simple as that. I give her a carrot or a small chew to help with the
process anyway.
I took my sister-in-law, Sandy, out to lunch. Sandy was
married to my younger brother, Arthur, who died shortly before my lovely Pat.
Most times we talk about what we’ve been up to but invariably end up talking
about our loss. We went to a dog friendly pub, which meant I could take
Tuppence.
I also took Tuppence with me when I visited my
granddaughter, Gemma and her family in Brighton. I took them (Great grandson,
Orin, and Gemma’s partner, Max) out to lunch at the Laughing Dog Café in the
marina. Lovely afternoon with them.
I decided to grow tomatoes this year. I ended up with that
many I had to make soup. Not a good idea. The only thing it taught me, besides
proving that I’m a lousy cook, is not to grow tomatoes again.
Another pleasing event was lunch with our No. 2 son, Terry,
at Goodwood Aerodrome. We sat in the sunshine at the café beside the airfield
watching the flying, eating chips and just having a thoroughly nice time.
Tuppence was with us as well (natch).
But back to my world of books. I was working on a fourth
Emma Carney Romance and had reached about 12000 words when I knew I was going
nowhere with it; all I was doing was adding a series of events that were taking
me down rabbit holes; certainly not a fitting way to find a reasonable end to a
plausible story. I soldiered on for a while until I had my thoughts triggered
by a film that had nothing to do with the war but referenced a fictional series
about the war in Paris. This set me on the kind of research I used to do years
ago before Social Media was invented. I went to the local library and ordered a
book about Occupied Paris. I also searched online for more material and ended
up buying four books: SOE ‘F’ Section heroines, (written by Sqdn. Leader Beryl
E. Escott); When Paris Went Dark (Ronald Rosbottom); Paris in the Third Reich
(David Pryce-Jones) and Americans in Paris 1940-1944 (Charles Glass). Three of
the books were used, but I bought the paperback of the Library book because I
knew I might have to make notations in it.
Looking through all that material might seem daunting, but
much of it is repeated in all the books, and for my story, I only want to write
about the early period leading up to June 1940 when German troops marched into
the open, undefended city of Paris. I expect to spend a lot of time researching
before I can put together a plan of how and where I want to start, and where
I’ll finish. If I think I have made a success of this, I would be prepared to
write a series (if I live long enough!). But the material is there along with
fascinating characters and dramatic events. I have already written the opening
chapter (twice), but even now I’m wondering if I should wait until I have
everything written down that I need before plotting a story.
So looking ahead, my weeks will be filled with domestic
chores, walking Tuppence, going to church, falling asleep in the chair,
watching TV, playing my piano and missing my lovely Pat. Between all this, I
hope to be writing my next full length novel.
Wish me luck!