Daynote - Wed 9 Jul

We're back to shorts weather here in Scotland (that is, the average temperature is above 15°C) and it's very nice indeed. This morning was what I like to call a 'benchmark' writing day - where I do all the things on my morning todo list, pretty much when I'm supposed to do them, hit my targets in both time and word count and get out for a walk to boot. Benchmark days are the days when the work really gets pushed forward and it feels pretty good.

ON DECK: 1,434 words today, precisely 1,000 words more than yesterday, which is very heartening. That's because I was able to spend the whole writing session on the actual drafting, rather than spending half of it bullet-point-outlining the scenes to come. This new book is very unlike anything I've done before in voice and POV and setting, so I'm finding it both mildly daunting and a LOT of fun to draft.

LISTENING: Absolutely loved the latest episode of the five-episode series from Pause Books interviewing all of the Bloody Scotland Debut Prize finalists (including me). Today's episode was with Claire Wilson, author of Five By Five. Really inspiring stuff and what a journey she's been on.

WATCHING: A bit of RICK AND MORTY last night, then some reading. Something light after finishing off a couple of heavy going series.

READING: More THE POWER OF THE DOG. I'm really enjoying it, especially how effectively and economically it gives a sense of the passage of time, without bogging you down in a lot of detail. Give it a real sense of scale and scope.

LINK: I loved this post about how book auctions work from The Honest Editor. I understood the broad strokes of how they worked, but this was a really useful look at the specifics of how and when things happen and the differences between different publishers. I've been part of one auction, but it was the very different world of film and TV, so it was cool to read this, because I've seen friends go through book auctions but mostly just through the medium of very excited group chats.

UP NEXT: Hoping for more benchmark days - I very roughly planned out my drafting on this book with a nominal finish date in October, but that will require a fairly chunky daily target to hit. I'm also absolutely certain to have edits, copyedits and possibly proofreading in the same time period, so it'll be a stop-start affair.

But, for now, I've set a good pace. Onward!