Daynote - Fri 16 May

Stayed up too late watching ANDOR last night (ooft) so no walk this morning. But I did get a good amount done!

ON DECK: I finished Part 2 of PROJECT SCARLET this morning, with a net word count of -61 and four more chapters put to bed. They were slightly longer than the chapters I've been working on the rest of the week, as this is the big action sequence that ends the second part of the book. But it feels good to have two of the five parts of the book done, with two weeks to go on my deadline.

LISTENING: Another excellent episode of the Bloody Scotland podcast, with Caro Ramsay and Foday Mannah as the veteran/debut pairing. Have I mentioned how much I think that's a brilliant format? Because I really think it is.

WATCHING: As above, we finished ANDOR last night. A truly excellent piece of TV. And once again I was impressed at how it avoided making any of the easy or obvious narrative choices, in character reactions, in consequences, in sacrifices.

I reckon we'll re-watch ROGUE ONE fairly soon, then finish off the whole arc by watching Episode IV and watching the Death Star explode.

READING: Soooo close to the end of INNOCENT GUILT, about fifty pages to go. Should finish that on lunch today. It's extremely twisty. Ironically, since I'm now heavily involved in the crime and thriller writing community, I've never been a big crime reader, so I'm not used to being completely blindsided by multiple plot twists in this way. It's a lot of fun though!

LINK: I thought this interview by the Not So Secret Agents substack with three acquiring editors in Crime and Thriller was really interesting. Chasing trends is a generally bad idea, but knowing what editors are looking for right now (so you can talk to your agent about it and possibly sub something) is a very useful thing indeed.

UP NEXT: Next week I'll dive into Parts 3 and 4 of PROJECT SCARLET, with the final week reserved for Part 5 and a final scan across the whole thing. I don't have the time remaining for another full read through, but I can do a chapter-by-chapter speedread just making sure nothing looks weird. There'll be plenty of time for additional readthroughs in the subsequent editing phases.

But first, the weekend. Onward!