Daynote - Thu 19 Mar 2026
It's time to play a game...
A double writing session this morning, but I'll be back to walking tomorrow I think. Still, the work is benefiting from the extra time.
Today, the first episode of the new actual play RPG from Narrative Damage comes out, featuring me playing Lord Wilbur Linklater! We're playing a Call of Cthulu one-shot called Loki's Gift, which features mysterious musical scores, cults, fog-wreathed streets and lots of strange occult nonsense. Check out this trailer!
And here's the character introductions for me and the other players, fellow authors Nick Binge and Tariq Ashkanani.
The first episode (of three) drops later today on YouTube and the Narrative Damage RSS feed. Check the linktree for more.
ON DECK: Writing went well this morning, a decent 1,178 words on VAULT, followed by 425 on the short story. That got me a total of 1,603 over a couple of hours, which I'm pretty happy with.
LISTENING: A really good interview on V.E. Schwab's No Write Way podcast with Joe Abercrombie, including a very interesting discussion about character voice, epic fantasy and the importance (or not) of maps in books. Great stuff.
WATCHING: Two episodes of TRUE DETECTIVE last night (couldn't help ourselves) and it's just phenomenal character acting and use of framing narratives. A lot of the tiny details are in tiny moments and expressions, so it's definitely 'put your phone down' TV. Again, I appreciate I'm having these revelations twelve years late.
READING: Into the final hundred or so pages of THE INFINITE STATE by Richard Swan (Bookshop.org, Waterstones, Amazon) and it's proper kicked off. And has also pulled off a final quarter twist/reveal I absolutely didn't see coming.
LINK: I loved this video that Kottke pointed out yesterday - a camcorder video showing some friends travelling to Coney Island on the Subway in 1987. I find time capsule video like this just instantly fascinating, in the way it can transport you to a different era that is recognisable, but utterly different. Something about it always makes me want to try my hand at writing something historical, to try and evoke that feeling of strange familiarity. I was six at the time this video was made, and several thousand miles away from NYC, but nevertheless it felt oddly resonant.
UP NEXT: A Friday Writing Day tomorrow, with a decent amount of things on the slate to work on. I will definitely crack 80k on VAULT this week, which is very exciting. And depending how quickly I hit my quota, I may also be able to make significant progress on the short story too. We'll see how it goes.
Onward!