Much cooler today, fully five degrees chillier. I briefly saw my breath, first thing. And I also saw this doe, watching me from close to the path, absolutely still, completely convinced that I couldn't see her.
A lovely walk though, my lung capacity is pretty much back to normal and it's really nice. I'm very glad, in anticipation of the walking I'm planning to do in Rome.
Last night Narrative Damage posted this fun reel of our latest Blades In The Dark playthrough. I'm roleplaying being slightly drunk and Very Scottish in this clip, fyi.
Check my Media page for a complete list of shows I've been in as a cast member.
ON DECK: Fiddling with an outline, answering emails, a couple of website changes. One of those bitty mornings where I knocked a bunch of things off my todo list but don't necessarily feel like I made much progress in any particular direction. Certainly didn't write any actual prose words. But sometimes you need to lay groundwork. And sometimes you're about to go on holiday and you don't really want to start anything big. A little of both for me, today.
LISTENING: This is some niche spy fiction content, but I really enjoyed this deep-dive into the character of Ricki Tarr (from TINKER TAILOR and THE HONOURABLE SCHOOLBOY) on the Le Carré Cast. That's one of the advantages of doing a super-specialised podcast - you can really dig into the details.
WATCHING: We've been watching TUCCI IN ITALY on Disney to get hype for our trip, and it's working. Especially because last night's episode was in Lazio, which is the region (Rome and the region around it) where we're going.
READING: A tiny sliver of LONDON STATION by David McCloskey (Bookshop, Waterstones, Amazon) last night. I kind of want to finish it before we head to Italy to maximise luggage space for fully unread books, so I may go deep on it on my lunchbreak. I've got some packing to do this evening, so I might struggle. But it's intensely readable, so we'll see.
KIT: Another extremely random recommendation, but I've worn these cheap walking/hunting trousers from Decathlon pretty much every morning for a couple of years now for my walk through the woods and they're really, really good - light but hard-wearing, stretchy, comfortable, loads of pockets and they (mostly) stop thorns, nettles and ticks from causing me harm. Recommended.
LINK: This piece from Jennie Godfrey on being sober for 19 years is excellent. I'm sober myself (ten years as of August) and while the nature of my decision was a bit different (pretty sure I developed an intolerance that gave me apocalyptic hangovers, which was my main motivation for quitting), I'm right there with her when it comes to the hugely positive effects on my life.
UP NEXT: A bit more outlining over the next couple of days, then I'm off to Italy! I will have notebooks etc with me and might do a bit of idle noodling, but I do want to take a proper break, both to see my brother get married and then to let my brain cool down a bit after a busy year of drafting and edits so far. I can't wait.
Onward!