Daynote - Wed 29 Apr 2026
A verdant start to the day.
There's a certain brightness to the green in the woods right now that's my favourite thing. Later in the year, in the heat of summer, the woods can get a little dusty and, while still very green, feel very dense. But right now, everything is verdant and new and crisp and it's lovely.
I've also recently discovered the Merlin app (yeah, I know, me and everyone else) and been really enjoying finally knowing what the names of the birds singing around me. It highlights each bird as it sings, which makes it very easy to distinguish different calls. A very nice, elegantly designed app. Free too!
ON DECK: A solid -70 words today. I've timelined the first half of the novel, but I was getting antsy about not making forward progress on the novel, so I started from the start and began working through scenes. Thankfully I finished my short story SKILL BASE, so that's off to the editors. Now it's full steam ahead on this novel until it's done-done.
LISTENING: I enjoyed this episode of The Conversation with Nadine Matheson, interviewing banker-turned-writer Aisha Hassan. Always fascinating to hear how people juggle demanding day jobs with writing.
READING: A few chapters of CHILDREN OF STRIFE by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Bookshop, Waterstones, Amazon) before sleep last night. Still not entirely clear that I've differentiated all of the different threads of the story (not helped by some of them being simulated realities), but figuring that out is half the fun.
LINK: I enjoyed this piece by fellow spy novelist James Wolff on the messy real life world of espionage. Unlike me, James is actually former SIS, so he knows whereof he speaks. Hat-tip to the excellent Spybrary Dead Drop newsletter for the link.
UP NEXT: Off to York tomorrow for a launch event with Alessandra Ranelli and Kristen Perrin, then back on Friday. On trains and in cafes I'm hoping to make a lot of solid progress on the edits. And I'll be popping into the fabulous Criminally Good Books on Friday morning to sign some stock. Do say hello if you see me.
Onward!