Daynote - Wed 28 Jan

I woke up to the sound of howling wind and rain outside the window, so promptly went back to sleep for another hour. It had stopped raining by the time I actually got up, so I probably should have made it out for a walk, but sometimes the lure of the duvet cannot be resisted.

ON DECK: A solidly reasonable 1,007 words this morning, finishing off the scene I started yesterday and starting another. A fair amount of on-the-fly research required but a lot of fun to write.

LISTENING: Another excellent episode of the Behind The Lines podcast with Arthur Snell, this time looking at the 'post-Western world'. Illuminating and also a really good assessment, I think of the current worldwide trends that are driving things far more profoundly that whatever hooting lunacy is being emitted from any particular politician.

WATCHING: I was out last night visiting family, so no telly, but I did really enjoy this talk from author and multi-format writer (games, scripts, comics) Antony Johnston (who was kind enough to blurb A RELUCTANT SPY) on writing for games and what makes for a good story. Excellent stuff.

READING: I've been mostly crit-reading this week, while travelling about. But I'm still enjoying PAGANS by James Alistair Henry (Bookshop, Amazon), which is speeding along nicely.

LINK: Intrigued to see a new reader-supported PC games website starting up, namely Jank, featuring veterans of PC Gamer, Eurogamer and Rock, Paper, Shotgun. It's heartening to see people trying out new models for online writing.

UP NEXT: Packing for Manchester and Stockport Noir, putting together January's newsletter, drafting a short story, outlining next week's work, recording a podcast episode and, somewhere in there, sleeping and eating. Things are about to get busy.

Onward!