Daynote - Wed 17 Jun 2026

An absolutely magical start to the day today - it's very damp this morning and I was swishing through the long grass and undergrowth, trousers absolutely wringing wet, when I encountered two brand new fawns, couldn't be more than a day or two old. They were so young and disorientated that they actually came towards me, stumbling through the grass.

I froze, but then spotted their mum a few metres away, so I hotfooted it in the other direction quick as I could. Since they were only a metre or two off the path, I warned a dog walker coming the other way and she took her dog a different route. But they were so, so tiny and so sweet. I've only seen fawns once or twice in nearly six years of walking these woods, so this close encounter was absolutely amazing.

ON DECK: A reasonable -29 words this morning across two more chapters, and I'm now two thirds done with the consolidation edit. I'd hoped I'd finish it before heading south tomorrow, but I guess I'll crank through the rest on the train to London. Might even get some drafting done if I can square away that last 11,000 words or so in the first couple of hours.

LISTENING: Really enjoyed this interview with author and screenwriter Elle McNicol on The Conversation With Nadine Matheson. Some excellent advice for debuts in this episode, that I wish I'd heard two years ago.

WATCHING: We started on Season 2 of PARADISE last night and really enjoyed the first episode. Some very heartening trope subversions that I greatly appreciated. In some ways this show is kind of cheesy melodrama, but in other ways it's really, really smart television. The penultimate episode of the first season, 'The Day', is still one of the most tense things I've ever watched. Just exceptionally good.

READING: More of DECEPTION by Alan Parks (Bookshop, Waterstones, Amazon) last night. I'm trying to decide whether to take it with me to Capital Crime. I have carried many, many books to weekend book festivals and events and never read a single page of them, so I think I should just be honest with myself and save it for when I get back.

LINK: An excellent 'industry basics' post on how money in publishing works (mostly, this is a US-centric view and high-level), from agent and author Kate McKean.

UP NEXT: Nearly done for the week, then packing tonight! I pulled a muscle in my calf I think, so just a small weight workout tonight (I need to figure out gym stuff when I travel, I have not figured it out yet, so I end up frontloading my exercise and then leaving for my event very tired), and an early night before I head off. Really looking forward to it.

Onward!