Daynote - Thu 15 Jan
Settling in to the story.
For the second time this year I appear to have silenced my alarm without waking up (I use a Garmin Instinct watch with vibrating alarms, but I seem to have become immune to them). Although I did go to bed late and have had an exercise-heavy week, so perhaps I just really needed the sleep. Bit of a shame as it's a glorious morning outside. Hey-ho.
ON DECK: By way of compensation I had a good writing session this morning, with 1,350 words down and a whole new scene in the bag that was a lot of fun to write. I'm still in the buildup phase of this book, with things starting to go wrong in interesting ways, and it's very entertaining coming up with scenes that give a sense of widespread chaos while being actually quite narrow in scope.
LISTENING: Really enjoyed this episode of Scriptnotes about creating a tone in your work. Obviously in film and TV the visuals are doing a lot of the legwork, but I think there's a lot to learn about creating an overall perception of your world, your locations and your characters.
WATCHING: Obviously we watched THE TRAITORS last night. Not quite as wild a showdown as previous episodes, but still quite the thing. It's very well made TV.
READING: Didn't read a word yesterday, got to bed too late. But I will polish off a bit of EXCESSION today I think.
KIT: I recently started (and I'm very aware this is a cliche, given it's January) running again, doing the Couch to 5K programme from the start. I last did it in 2023, then on my very first run after completing programme, managed to sprain my ankle so badly I didn't run again until this year. But I want to improve my cardiovascular fitness, so running it is.
This time around I wanted an alternative to sticking my phone, keys, water bottle etc in the pockets of a sweaty nylon running jacket, so I picked up the Trekkrs Trail Vest, which is a UK-designed and very affordable entry-level bit of kit. I did my first run with it last night and it was great - good fit, loads of pocket space, it didn't move at all as I ran and I could clip a light to it to help with not getting run over on dark country roads. It's about a third of the price some of the fancier versions aimed at ultra-runners and I think an excellent deal. Recommended.
LINK: Speaking of THE TRAITORS, I enjoyed this piece by crime writer Erin Kelly about why crime writers make such excellent game players. Although last night's events have somewhat cast the article in a different light.
UP NEXT: My first proper non-working day tomorrow and I am excited. It's technically my second week, but this is the first Friday I'll have the chance to try out my full planned writing routine on a dedicated day. I cannot wait to see how it feels.
Onward!