Daynote - Wed 20 May 2026

Back to the home office today. No walk because I need to start the dayjob a bit early, but a solid morning of writing instead.

ON DECK: Yesterday I added +794 words in aggregate, while today I cut -301 words. So almost literally two steps back, one step forward. But progress is being made and today I finished Part 3 of 5. Part 4 and Part 5 are a bit shorter in aggregate, so while I'm not quite rounding the final corner towards the finish line, I'm starting the final lap.

LISTENING: I enjoyed this interview with Shannon Chakraborty on SFFAddicts, which was a really interesting discussion about, among other things, the challenges and opportunities of writing middle-aged protagonists.

WATCHING: An episode of THE BOYS last night and I marvel at how well this show evokes the massively OTT vibes of a comic book. Also whoever their foley artist is they deserve an Emmy. So many visceral squidging and squelching noises

READING: A bit of SLOW GODS by Claire North (Bookshop, Waterstones, Amazon), which I'm enjoying immensely. I'm reading this for a panel at Cymera in June and it's fascinating to see the parallels with the other authors on the panel, Adrian Tchaikovsky and Fonda Lee.

LINK: Speaking of Cymera, there's a bunch of workshops that look really excellent. Check out Writing Wounds with Jenni Coutts (who as well as being an award-winning illustrator and agented author is also a practicing GP), a podcasting workshop with Marco Rinaldi (the powerhouse behind Page One, Narrative Damage, Drafting Notes and more) and a query letter workshop with Erin Hardee (who helped me immensely with my query back in the day). There's tonnes more, so get booking!

UP NEXT: Unfortunately my event with Callum McSorley isn't going ahead on Friday and I've had to reschedule my podcast recording as well, but on the bright side I've got more time for editing, which I badly need. About 31,000 words left to edit, 2,000 words to cut and a little over 9 days to do it in.

Onward!