Daynote - Wed 26 Aug
Steady as we go.
I forgot to take a picture on my walk this morning (overcast, warm, but not too humid) so you get a stock picture of a keyboard, as is custom. And I'm spending a lot of time working with keyboards, so it's appropriate.
ON DECK: Up to p268 this morning, and it's feeling pretty good still. I'm enjoying reading the book, on a scene-by-scene footing, which is as reassuring as ever. And I'm really looking forward to having a full day to work on this on Friday. I think if I can crack p300 tomorrow, then I will probably finish the overall hybrid edit on Friday, and may even finish my final polish pass. We shall see!
TOOLS AND PROCESS: One of my real challenges since going part time has been managing the sharp uptick in frustration - when I was working full time, every weekday was pretty much the same - I got up, did my 90 minutes of writing activity, then got on with my day.
However, now I have Fridays, where I have the whole day ahead of me. I'm still figuring out the best order in which to work, but what I haven't had trouble with is doing the work (just when I start, mostly). And boy, when I lock in on a Friday, I get a huge amount done and it's so nice not having to stop.
That makes my regular work days, when I have to stop when the time runs out so I can do the things that keep me sane (going for a walk) and solvent (doing my day job), incredibly frustrating. I like my job, to be clear - but having to stop when I'm mid-flow four days out of five on the work that really inspires and motivates me suuuuucks.
Still - not much to be done about it except writing more. So that's what I do.
LISTENING: I really enjoyed this interview with Suyi Davies on SFFAddicts, talking about pacing in fiction. Lots of thoughtful stuff to chew on here.
WATCHING: Turns out we'd already watched the finale of HOUSE OF THE DRAGON? I don't know, I just assumed there were more episodes. Oh well. Instead we've started watching THE TESTAMENTS, which I'm enjoying. Pleased to see one of the leads is a Scot, doing an excellent Canadian accent. So far we're really enjoying it, although the clunky opening crawl text didn't inspire confidence.
READING: I got jumpscared by the trailer for Season 6 of SLOW HORSES and realised I'd got behind - I've been reading the novels year by year just ahead of the TV show, so last night I picked up the book that this season is based on, JOE COUNTRY by Mick Herron (Bookshop, Waterstones, Amazon). It's fantastic, as I fully expected it to be.
LINK: Last weekend I went for a drink with friend and fellow author Stark Holborn, and they introduced me to Outlier, a word rarity game, which I've become hopelessly addicted to. Thankfully there's only one game per day. I'm not even going to look at the live variant where you play other people directly. I apologise in advance for the loss of your time.
UP NEXT: More edits and hopefully a big chunky day of them on Friday. Then, gasp, we'll be heading into September, which is going to be a much busier month. I'm kind of looking forward to getting back into it, and I'm also looking forward to getting back to working on Project DRIFT.
Onward!