Daynote - Tue 6 Jan

We woke up to a tiny sprinkling of snow this morning, which was very wintry indeed. It's also very cold, so it's lying and turning into ice. Thankfully I woke up late again (going to bed late, oops) so I didn't brave it. Tomorrow I'll get out, but I'm definitely easing gently into the New Year.

ON DECK: A very decent 1,521 on Project VAULT this morning. It's fun revisiting characters and adding new stuff and I'm doing a LOT of googling and on-the-fly research to figure out locations and specifics for scenes, so a decent 1,500+ word count is very satisfying.

TOOLS AND PROCESS: I'm kind of feeling my way through this initial draft a bit, micro-outlining as I go. This is I think how I work now - a broad overall outline so I know my direction of travel, but the detailed beats of each scene I don't work out until at most a week before I write it. It allows for a bit of spontaneity and serendipity and coming up with better ideas on the fly, but also means I'm not flailing around trying to come up with a whole novel from nothing. Seems to work pretty well.

LISTENING: I really enjoyed this interview with literary agent John Baker over on the Write and Wrong Podcast. I've met John a few times at festivals and conventions and he reps quite a few friends and he always provides a very high energy perspective on the industry, to say the least (complimentary).

WATCHING: We watched a bit more of MOONHAVEN last night. It's doing a lot with a limited budget but the script and the worldbuilding is top notch. Really enjoying it.

READING: Didn't read a scrap of anything yesterday. Some days that just happens. Boo.

LINK: I saw some eligibility posts going around yesterday, including Jay who writes the superb review blog Tar Vol on. If you love SFF (and especially short fiction) he's a must-subscribe in my view.

UP NEXT: More typing, and a bit of gazing out of the window at the snow. I've also got my travel booked now for Stockport Noir at the end of the month, which I'm really looking forward to.

Onward!