Daynote - Wed 22 Oct

Back out this morning and it's the first time this year that the sun has been below the horizon when I reach the woods. And, of course, this weekend the clocks go back, so fairly soon I'll be starting my morning walks in darkness. This time of year always comes around quicker than I expect.

However, I saw lots of deer in the woods, threw the ball (twice!) for Poppy the Labrador at the beach and had some excellent writing time this morning.

ON DECK: A very satisfying 2,246 words today. Sometimes you lock in, sometimes a scene really flows and it all just works. This was one of those mornings. They happen more often when I'm quite strict about putting my phone out of arms reach and getting started as soon as I sit down. I should really do that more.

LISTENING: I've been really enjoying the Cortex podcast's recent episodes where they invite creators on to talk about their workflow and what they use to get the job done. This interview with David Pierce of The Verge is excellent. I would love a podcast that covered this kind of topic but from an analogue point of view though - I'm sure it exists, I just haven't found it yet. But I'd love to know how people do things non-digitally.

WATCHING: A bit of BAKE OFF last night, which was great. It's getting down to brass tacks now though.

READING: More of QUANTUM OF MENACE last night, still treading the fine line between humour and darkness. Don't forget this comes out tomorrow!

LINK: I really enjoyed this talk by author Leigh Bardugo about 'the art of discomfort' when it comes to creativity. Great stuff. Hat tip to Rukman Ragas for the link.

UP NEXT: The draft of DRIFT is starting to pick up speed in a very pleasing way, so I'm full tilt on that for the rest of this week, to see if I can crack 35k total.

Then, glory of glories, I have a week off. No huge plans, just some local trips, family visits and so on, but I'm deeply looking forward to it. The only writing I'll be doing is my newsletter and maybe the odd daynote. Not too worried about losing momentum, because I'll spend some of that time mulling where DRIFT is going next. But also sleep. A lot of sleep.

Onward!