Daynote - Wed 27 May 2026

Much cooler in Scotland this morning (though we've only just inched over 25°C this week anyway, unlike our unfortunate southern brethren) which is welcome when you're hotfooting it through the woods and down to the beach. Very pleasant in a t-shirt. It's nice not to get home a sweaty mess.

As of today it's just EIGHT DAYS until my next novel, SOLITARY AGENTS, comes out from Headline Books. I'd be deeply, deeply obliged if you pre-ordered it, especially from your local independent bookshop. Check my Links page for all kinds of different ways to get your copy.

And if you're in south-east Scotland, please do come along to the launch on Thursday June 4th at Waterstones West End, 7pm, where I'll be in conversation with my friend Nick Binge.

ON DECK: I started on a consolidation edit of the first 38,000 words of Project DRIFT this morning. I started writing this last autumn and then put it down to pick up a different (contracted) novel, but so far I'm pretty pleased with it. It's definitely first draft, but as I'm working through it I feel like it's cohesive and interesting story. Which isn't always true of first drafts.

I added 31 words in aggregate this morning, so a low word count day, but a satisfying writing session.

TOOLS AND PROCESS: The next 3-4 months are going to be interesting, at the project level, because I'm going to be juggling two active, completed novels with edits from two different publishers, writing a third novel draft (which is DRIFT), planning a fourth for later this year/early next year and noodling with other projects that don't yet have a shape or format. There's going to be lots of little gaps of 1-3 weeks where I would, in the past, have got hung up on starting something. My aim is to fill those gaps consistently with either forward progress on a novel or a draft of the 'other projects' - the format and length I'm thinking of should be doable in one or two of those gaps between other work.

The main thing I want to do, though, is to be as flexible as possible and roll with the punches of the inevitable delays, sudden turnarounds and a busy summer of events. If I can get to September with another completed novel draft in hand I will be very happy, since that will be two books completed this year (both started last year, but it's the finishing things that counts).

LISTENING: I really enjoyed this episode of Scriptnotes on how studio (and non-studio/independent) financing works in Hollywood. Seriously, I'm absolutely fascinated by inside baseball industry stuff like this, especially in publishing and film/tv.

WATCHING: No telly last night, I was out delivering some shelves to my sister, then visiting my Mum for a wee wander down at Cramond in the evening. Very nice.

READING: More of THE LAST CONTRACT OF ISAKO by Fonda Lee (Bookshop, Waterstones, Amazon) yesterday at lunch and then in the evening. The setup is very intriguing, so I'm really interested as to where she's going to take it over the course of the book.

LINK: I've been enjoying Ed Zitron's reporting on 'AI' over the past year or so and his latest free post is an absolute doozy on the underlying dynamics of the LLM grift, late stage capitalism and the behaviours it incentivises - Revenge Of The Business Idiot.

UP NEXT: More consolidation editing, then I'm off to a recording of Narrative Damage on Friday which I'm great looking forward to. A busy weekend after that, including visiting pals in the new car, a housewarming and hopefully finally getting to grips with the garden, then it's LAUNCH WEEK. Eek! Not sure I'm ready, but the time will pass anyway.

Onward!