Daynote - Mon 8 Dec

I'm freshly off the sleeper in London for a work event, so no woodland walks today. But I will enjoy a night in the capital before heading back to Scotland tomorrow.

The Kindle Daily Deal last week had a fantastic effect, with A RELUCTANT SPY peaking at number 12 in the whole UK Kindle store and sticking around in the top ten of various categories over the weekend. I hope everyone who picked up a copy enjoys it. Don't forget, the sequel SOLITARY AGENTS is available for pre-order now. Check out my Links page for different retailers and formats.

ON DECK: I'm working on my outline and Scrivener structure still, putting together the beats that will get me started on the first couple of weeks of writing on Project VAULT. Later today I may also haunt some London bookshops and see if I can track down some paperbacks to sign.

LISTENING: I greatly enjoyed this interview on Read and Buried with thriller author Mark Edwards. I've seen Mark in passing and on panels at a few crime and thriller festivals over the last couple of years and never managed to say hello, but if this podcast is any guide he'd be a good laugh at the bar.

WATCHING: We watched CONCLAVE last night before I got on the train and I thought it was terrific - beautifully shot and extremely tense. I haven't read the book so I've no idea how closely it hews to the novel, but as a piece of filmmaking I thought it was excellent.

READING: I'm now working on a different beta read for another author friend, which is very different indeed. But that will probably be taking up my reading time for the next week or so, meaning updates in this section will be sparse.

KIT: This is my last trip of the year, but it was another opportunity to observe how good the travel plug I bought for this summer's festival circuit is. I got the MOMAX Universal Travel Adapter (affiliate link) on the advice of a bunch of different travel YouTubers and they were right - it's an excellent, solidly made device. Its replaced three different charging plugs I used to have to carry.

LINK: A double link today, courtesy of the excellent website The Booktrail, which pairs travel with literature. I was asked to contribute based on the locations in A RELUCTANT SPY, and my two pieces have gone live. First up is my Booktrail entry, featuring maps and descriptions of some of the places in the novel. And I also wrote an 'On Location' piece talking about my own experiences in East Africa and how I went about revisiting them and researching the novel.

UP NEXT: A day and night in London, then back to Scotland overnight on the sleeper. And, I hope, by then I'll be approaching a ready-to-draft Scrivener file and completed outline. We'll see how it goes.

Onward!