Daynote - Fri 6th Sep 2024

Last day of my day job today, then we're into Release Week Proper. Ahhh. And one week from now, my book will be out in the world, I'll be waking up after my sold-out launch event and I'll be on my way to Bloody Scotland! I am fizzing with excitement.

ON DECK: A bit slow this morning, 455 words on the SCARLET sample, which is sitting at about 6k words now. Any day with words is a win though! For, I hope, obvious reasons, I'm a bit distracted at the moment. But this is where the words get made. Sometimes I have a really sharp and focused writing day and get a couple of thousand words. Sometimes I get 200 words and feel like I can't focus at all. Sometimes it's zero words. But they add up, day after day. And not necessarily every day either - I don't write on the weekends and I skip weekdays if I need to. But returning to writing consistently is what makes the difference for me, even if I miss a day or two, or the word counts are low.

LISTENING: A couple of podcasts this morning - a great interview with TJ Klune on No Write Way, and a fun interview with the crime writer William Shaw on the Scrivener podcast.

WATCHING: We've started watching KAOS on Netflix, which is a modern Greek myth retelling in a semi-alternate universe where the Gods are very real. It's great - the tone reminds me of Baz Luhrmann's films, but way darker and played completely straight. Fantastic script and an amazing cast. It's worth checking out.

READING: Continuing with NINTH LIFE, although at a very slow pages-per-day rate thanks to staying up too late and being a giant ball of nervous energy.

UP NEXT: A busy couple of days this weekend, then release week itself. I'll be trying to sort out bits and bobs around the house tomorrow, then on Sunday morning I'm on a train down to London to stay with my brother, before another train early on Monday to Brighton for a warehouse signing with Goldsboro for the Crime Collective special edition. That will actually be my first ever signing of my own book (I signed some copies of the anthology I'm in at WorldCon, but this is the first one that's just me). I can't wait. I'm hoping to get a LOT of writing done on the train, but we'll see how tired I am. I might just do a bit of reading.

Here we go!