Daynote - Wed 3 Dec

As is very common at the tail end of the year I'm fighting off some kind of lingering throat/nose/sinus thing that just. won't. bugger. off. So I slept in again and got up pretty late. Missed another absolutely stunning morning for a walk too, but it's First Defence and cups of hot tea this morning.

ON DECK: I did manage to start working on the Scrivener file for Project VAULT, which is very exciting (hence the house of cards image above). Just basic stuff like adding my POVs to the Label list (so I can mark which scene or chapter is which and colour-code them), then creating a character list. I don't go in for big long character sheets, but I do find it's a very good idea to have a running list, in order of appearance, of every character, so you can remember the names you gave them, roughly what they look like and so on. The trick is remembering to update it each time someone new pops up in the narrative.

LISTENING: I really enjoyed Amy McCulloch's appearance on The Conversation with Nadine Matheson - she's had a pretty varied and fascinating writing career (including climbing very large mountains and running ultramarathons for research) and it's a great chat.

WATCHING: Just a bit of TASKMASTER last night. Hilarious stuff.

READING: More critique reading (I'm currently working on a heist thriller by a friend that I'm absolutely convinced is going to be huge) and a bit of DARK WATERS by Marco Rinaldi, which has absolutely lived up to the pitch that won Pitch Perfect at Bloody Scotland.

LINK: Extremely intrigued to see that Le Carré's A LEGACY OF SPIES has been picked up by the BBC as a TV series, in a co-production with MGM+ in the US. Some very intriguing casting, particularly Charlie Hunnam as Alec Leamas.

UP NEXT: More outlining, prepping for my Friday podcast (I got some excellent questions sent over yesterday) and, this weekend, getting our Christmas tree up and decorated. The year is running out fast...

Onward!