We have tipped over the line into the last month of the year. Kind of hard to believe, but here we are anyway. I sent out my penultimate newsletter of the year yesterday and it was quite fun accounting everything that had happened in the last month, but now we're approaching the time when I take stock of the whole year, including my next By The Numbers post, which I think I'll start drafting in the next week or two.
ON DECK: Over the weekend I returned second page proofs on SOLITARY AGENTS, which is very exciting - that means the final manuscript is (pretty much) ready for the printers. It's extremely exciting.
Today I went back and reworked my outline for a third time. Each pass on this has been going up a level in reducing the depth of the outline, because I keep getting lost in the detail. So, I started with feeling my way through a stream-of-consciousness type treatment, then went up to a scene-by-scene bullet outline. Now I'm doing a very high level chapter/part outline (where one bullet point might stand in for three or four scenes) just to figure out the shape of the plot and the main beats. And it's finally moving. I haven't got to the end yet, but I'm reasonably confident I'll do it this week, which is something I wasn't sure about last week.
LISTENING: Over the weekend I enjoyed this interview with Vic Watson, organiser of Bay Tales, on the In My Good Books podcast. It's been really amazing over the last few years to see the proliferation of book events around the country (especially outside the South East) and Bay Tales has been on my radar for a while. It sounds brilliant.
READING: I'm still reading DARK WATERS and really enjoying it. And it's definitely tipped over the midway point into a lot of breakneck action. Literally and figuratively.
LINK: Phoebe Morgan at The Honest Editor (who is also an author) has shared some of her agent rejections in her most recent newsletter, along with the exciting moment when one full request started to turn into a yes. It's a very exciting time and it doesn't matter how often I see friends go through it, the vicarious joy never gets old.
UP NEXT: Outlining, all week I think. I'll probably start structuring a Scrivener project fairly soon, which is always an exciting moment. But it's starting to come together. I've also got a very exciting podcast recording this week, plus an exciting thing coming up later in the week for readers - so stay tuned.
Onward!