Daynote - Mon 20th May 2024

Please excuse the interruption, covid came over and knocked me on my arse for five days. Which coincided, of course, with the most stunning weather of the year so far. On the plus side, the above was my view this lunch time, lying on our garden bench, feeling both well enough to work but unwell enough to not be very happy about it. Mostly I've just got zero energy.

ON DECK: Veeeeery slowly trying to get back up to speed again. 444 words this morning, working on a new short scene again for SHARD.

UP NEXT: Back to scene editing and hopefully picking up a bit of pace.

MUSIC: This is going to make me sound like the insufferable side-character in some dreadful 90s sitcom like 'Men Behaving Badly' who said they were into something incredibly obscure to prove their cultural bonafides (and a mighty suspect and over-used gag that was), but recently I've been really enjoying Ethiopian Jazz.

Like, listen to this track by Mulatu Astatke and tell me it doesn't instantly make you think of warmth, sunshine and restfulness?

Or this track, played by Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guèbrou (an incredible jazz pianist as well as being a nun) that's like taking a warm bath in piano keys. Mixed metaphor, but you know what I mean.

It's gorgeous. And there's absolutely loads of this beautiful music. Check it out, it's a whole scene. Any music scene that features jazz nuns has to be pretty cool, right?

READING: About three quarters of the way through The Salt Oracle by Lorraine Wilson (beta read, not out yet) and it is predictably breaking my brain in interesting ways.