Daynote - Fri 24 Jul

It's a big 'get words down' day today, and very blustery, so no walk as yet. No words either, come to that, but I'll get a cup of tea in me shortly and then get started.

Massive congratulations to Frances Crawford, who won the McDermid Debut Award (which I won last year) and Elly Griffiths, who won Crime Novel of the Year at Harrogate last night. Frances is also up for both the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize and the McIlvanney Prize this September, so there's a pretty decent chance she could 'do the double' and win at two major festivals. Good luck to her and all the other short and longlisters (possibly including me!) - it's going to be a fun festival this year.

It's also the LAST DAY of the Waterstones Summer Pre-Order sale!

Grab your copy of the SOLITARY AGENTS paperback (with new cover!) for 25% off by using code SUMMER26 at checkout. Ends at midnight tonight.

Speaking of which, I saw the final-ish version of the above cover yesterday and it absolutely slaps.

ON DECK: Full steam ahead on DRIFT this morning, and I'll also be doing a new project in the afternoon, as well as beginning to put together my (fairly short) newsletter for July (since I've done relatively few events and am missing Harrogate).

LISTENING: Loved this interview with Rhiannon Grist on the Page One Podcast, particularly the chat about the aggregation of marginal gains when it comes to promoting your work. I call that 'rolling the snowball of attention' but it's the same idea. And it absolutely doesn't have to include TikTok.

WATCHING: No telly last night, too busy reading for once.

READING: I'm right at the very end of THE BUFFALO HUNTER HUNTER by Stephen Graham Jones (Bookshop, Waterstones, Amazon) but sleepiness defeated me last night, so I will get it finished today (along with his apparently characteristically long acknowledgements, which I always read in every book because I know from experience how much they mean to both the author and the people they're thanking). But wow, what a book.

LINK: Loved this piece from the Honest Editor about what happens when an editor loves your book. I've definitely seen friends get absolutely crushed when the initial response from an editor is very enthusiastic and then the book doesn't get over the various internal hurdles it has to clear in order to actually be acquired, so this behind the scenes look at that process from the other side is very useful.

UP NEXT: A quiet one this weekend with family, then back to DRIFT all next week (or until my edits arrive). If I can hit 60k, I'll be chuffed. And I'm aiming to make significant progress towards that today.

Also there's a bunch of waiting-of-unspecified-length to hear about possibly exciting things, but when isn't there?

Onward!