Daynote - Tue 14 Apr 2026

Another really beautiful morning in Edinburgh, and a lovely walk with River the Dog. Plus I stopped off at the police box coffee stand on Leith Links and got a really, really good coffee.

I usually live in a relatively small village, which does have a couple of very good coffee shops, though they're at the other end of the village from where I do my morning walk. So it's very nice to stroll along in the sunshine, in a beautiful park in the middle of the city, with a cracking coffee in hand. A very nice start to Tuesday.

ON DECK: A solid morning of writing today, with 1,230 words on VAULT, then 197 words on short, for a decent 1,427 total. VAULT in particular has entered the terminal velocity phase, dropping headlong towards the final scenes. Which is a good thing, as I sauntered over the 100,000 word line this morning. I reckon I'll bring it in a shade under or over 110,000, and will then have a fair whack of cutting to do.

LISTENING: Loved this fascinating interview with journalist Jason Burke on Always Take Notes about his work in conflict reporting and writing a history of 1970s terror networks. Always Take Notes is just always so, so consistently good - incredibly thoughtful and illuminating interviews.

WATCHING: Absolutely loved this breakdown from Hank Green of some of the most iconic photos taken during the Artemis II mission. A fascinating confluence of discussion on orbital dynamics, photography, digital versus film and more.

READING: Continuing to read NO WAY OUT by Max Connor (aka Neil Lancaster, Bookshop, Waterstones, Amazon) - I reckon I'll finish it today or tomorrow. It is amping up considerably in the last third.

KIT: Someone on Bluesky asked about good reading lights, which gave me cause to shout about the excellent, extremely long battery life light I've been using the last year or two. It's this one. I charge it so rarely that I have no idea how long the battery actually lasts, but I used it for 30-45 minutes most nights and go weeks between charges. And the amber light is really nice. Really lightweight too, works absolutely fine with a paperback.

LINK: Callum McSorley's (excellent) third book RAT RACE (Bookshop, Waterstones, Amazon) comes out on the 7th of May and he's posted about the tour he's doing to support it, including chatting with me on the 22nd of May in Edinburgh! If you're a fan of fast-moving, kinetic Scottish crime, you should definitely get in on this book.

UP NEXT: One more day of dogsitting, then tomorrow evening I'll be off home. It's been a very nice sojourn here with River and I've got a reasonable amount of writing done, but