I'm on the road today, off to Harrogate via York. That's the bridge over the river Tweed at Berwick Upon Tweed, so I've just crossed the border into England.
I'm going to the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate for the second time, but a day earlier than last year. Tonight, I'll be at the Crime Writing Awards, where I'm one of six writers shortlisted for the second year of the McDermid Debut Award. I'm both really excited and really nervous.
The awards start at 8pm tonight, so wish me luck. Mostly I'll just be glad to know, one way or the other!
ON DECK: I'm going to try and get a bit of writing done on the train, but to be quite honest I'm somewhat preoccupied with everything happening later today, so I may give up and just read instead. We'll see.
Once I get to Harrogate I'll get checked in, changed and then there's a whole bunch of pre-awards stuff to do, like photo calls and signings. It all feels extremely fancy. The festival team have been amazing with their support and information, which helps a lot when you've never done anything like this before. Stay tuned for updates tomorrow.
LISTENING: I really enjoyed this episode of the Read and Buried Podcast with Kia Abdullah.
WATCHING: A bit of BOB'S BURGERS last night, as I was out most of the day running a workshop in Edinburgh and got home quite late. Tina Belcher is an incredible character.
READING: More reading of the pre-submission spy novel on various trains today. It really keeps ramping up the stakes.
LINK: I read this long article by non-fiction writer Caroline Crampton about why she's done with social media and found a lot of my own experiences and thoughts mirrored there. Especially because I already have a blog that I get a lot of usage out of and the algorithms are steadily making it harder and harder for my posts to actually reach that many people. I'm not quite at the point of ditching it entirely, but I think about doing it a lot.
UP NEXT: Harrogate! Posting will be spotty until next week, depending on what happens tonight. But hopefully by around 9pm tonight I'll be able to relax fully for the first time in a couple of months. Wish me luck.
Onward!