Writing a Novel in novel places....

Me and the Novel went on tour this weekend.. I'm at 35,000 words and need to get to 50,000 by the 30th November... I can see the finish line, I'm just not sure if someone won't trip me up before I get there!

It was my good pal's birthday weekend in London. The hubby gave me a weekend pass, some pennies and a kiss on the cheek. 'Play nice,' he said.

Mindful that I still needed to write my novel, I set off with clean pants, a toothbrush and my computer.

The first train allowed me to write for an hour and a half before my battery went! I changed stations in South Wales (no. not the new Australian one, the original one.) So, feeling cheeky I asked to plug into the train conductors office, but was told that there was actually a plug for customers' use in the waiting room. Cool.

For an hour I tippy-typed till the next train arrived. Three and a half hours later, having typed all the way, (the seat had its very own plug,) I arrived in London Paddington.

The party was booked for a bar and restaurant on top of Waterstones book store in Piccadilly.... how apt was that? - my book was already in Waterstones and it wasn't even finished. It's fate, I'm telling you!

I was super-early so I toddled down to the coffee shop in the basement and continued to write for another hour.

It was very interesting in the coffee shop: There were masses of people drinking coffee and chatting. A group of three men, possibly an actor, a director and a producer, were reading through a very graphic mob-style movie plot.... [v. boring - so same-y - I'm not recommending it..] Distracted, I moved tables. I took a quick peek about: There were lots of characters including the usual poseurs pretending to read, [I'd like to imagine] their books upside down. Then there were the lovely studious-but-poor-looking types, drinking the same cold coffee for hours on end, reading all the store's books before stroking them goodbye and replacing them on the shelves.

Finally at six o'clock I packed up and joined the party on the 5th floor, meeting some really great women, friends of my dear friend. We eventually ended up in a Indian restaurant in Berkeley Square off Mayfair, where we drank cocktails. Mine, the Mumbai Martini, was made with vodka, passion juice and spicy Indian chutney. Bonkers but gorgeous.

**

The journey home was dreadful. I stood for almost two hours on the second train and it took me seven hours to get home. I feel jet-lagged but I will say that I met fantastic people on my journey: In particular a lovely couple going home to Camarthen and two tired but gorgeous-looking mums with children, going home to Liverpool after a christening. They looked particularly adorable sitting chatting to me from the loo, the only place to sit on the train! ......There really is nothing like a bit of a crisis to get us Brits laughing..... and we did laugh all the way through to my stop, after we'd first deeply the lamented the lack of jobs in the UK and seats on trains. Thank you so much for the camaraderie Mr World Wide Recession... [she said sarcastically!]