Daynote - Tue 1 Sep

And back to the routine after a very nice long weekend. A very nice autumnal feel in the woods this morning and a fresh sea breeze.

On Friday I got the last edits done on Project VAULT and packed it off to my editor, then had a very nice Saturday afternoon at Wild Hill Farm in the Borders picking flowers with my family, which was stunningly beautiful.

Sunday and Monday were for reading and tidying up the house, and on the Monday recording a retrospective on our Delta Green actual play From The Dust with the Narrative Damage crew (look out for that episode soon).

A very pleasant and restorative weekend.

ON DECK: I did a tiny bit of writing/notebook noodling yesterday, then a bit more today, working on a pitch document, for a total of 426 words over the last two days. It's not prose, per se, but I'm counting it because this is probably going to be quite a long document once I've finished it and it is creative, even if it's not actual prose. Also later in the week I'll probably start actually writing the project itself, or at least a sample.

I'm giving this one the codename Project BRIGHT, and it's a bit of a departure for me. Might not go anywhere, but I'm taking this week to work on it, then next week to work on a completely different pitch document for another novel project. Then I'll go back to Project DRIFT, which should carry me through to December and a finished first draft. After that I'll be making a start on another spy novel - that one doesn't have a codename yet. Mainly because I don't know what it's about.

LISTENING: I enjoyed this episode of the 'Serving Books' season of the Too Much Social podcast, talking with author Lauren Currie and agent Caro Clarke about their experiences negotiating book deals.

WATCHING: We finished off THE TESTAMENTS over the weekend and really enjoyed it - it really strongly developed over the course of the season. Now back to SILO. Ahh, dystopias.

READING: More of JOE COUNTRY by Mick Herron (Bookshop, Waterstones, Amazon) over the weekend. Still absolutely loving it.

LINK: I came across this post about Why You're Not Writing which I thought was a good examination of the many and various reasons why you might be finding it difficult to sit down and write. I definitely agree with the conclusion that 'writer's block' is a symptom of many different psychological anxieties, rather than a real thing that comes on like a nasty cold. And I've experienced one or two of these myself.

UP NEXT: A good solid week working on this pitch document and a new departure for me creatively (I'm trying a different kind of writing 👀) so it will be a bit of a different week. Always a bit disconcerting working on new things. But! Also exciting.

Onward!