Daynote - Wed 25 Mar 2026
Zooming across the week to Wednesday.
Another very breezy day down the beach, though only a single kite surfer today. But he was far closer to the shore, so I got a better picture. It was cool but bright this morning, my favourite combination. It's so nice to be back to regular walking, after being off my feet.
My podcast recording yesterday was great fun, and should be out in late May or early June. And I've got a photo shoot on Friday for new author photos, which is very exciting.
I also got to read the first 10k words of a friend's novel last night, the follow-up to a much-anticipated novel coming out this year. And it was brilliant. And I got to reassure them that it was. It's always nice to be able to calm the fears of a fellow writer who can't see the woods for the trees.
ON DECK: A solid morning of writing today - 1,156 words on VAULT and exactly 300 on the short story. Both are coming along nicely.
TOOLS AND PROCESS: I'm through the second dip in confidence (what I call my 'wobble points') that I get with every project and into the exciting rush to the finish, which is a relief. I've got a lot of plot threads flying about and the timeline is a complete mess, but I'll be writing lots of short, exciting scenes that all intercut with each other as I bring the whole project to a conclusion, which is normally fast, fun writing. So I will be forging ahead and, I think, might even finish the first draft by the end of next week.
I do have a slightly curtailed writing day on Friday because of the photo shoot, but next week I'm off to London for my day job, and I quite often get a fair bit of drafting done in transit. Then there's the long Easter weekend, of course. It would be great to have the first draft done in the first week of April, because that will give me loads of time for edits (nearly three weeks more than planned). We'll see.
LISTENING: Loved this episode of The Conversation with Nadine Matheson, interviewing author Tayari Jones, author of KIN and AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE. Fascinating to hear about the journey from getting dropped by her first publisher to being picked for Oprah's Book Club twice.
WATCHING: We watched a bit of RESIDENT ALIEN last night, which continues to be daft as a brush but a lot of fun. I stand by my assessment that it's essentially Northern Exposure with aliens.
READING: More of NO WAY OUT by Max Connor (aka Neil Lancaster, Bookshop, Waterstones, Amazon) and the stakes keep on staking. Cliffhangers abound.
LINK: This Mark Kermode review of PROJECT HAIL MARY may be one of the most unambiguously positive I've ever seen from him. I really enjoyed the book, so I'm bumping this up the list. Sounds like it's definitely worth catching in the cinema too.
UP NEXT: Typing typing typing - I'm in the last 20% or so of another book and having a whale of a time. And it's finally not bloody freezing outside all the time. Spring is springing and I'm feeling good about it.
Onward!