Daynote - Fri 14 Mar

A lovely day off in Glasgow yesterday after we went to see Sharon Van Etten and the Attachment Theory at the Barrowlands Ballroom the previous night. We managed to score a midweek deal on a lovely hotel, so decided to stay over rather than struggle back on night trains/buses. Because we live in East Lothian, on the other side of Edinburgh, it can be a bit of a mission getting home after events in Glasgow.

I also realised this was my first actual day off since the start of the year (i.e. a day of rest rather than taking time off to do book stuff) and... I should book more regular days off. It's good for the brain, body and soul.

ON DECK: Back into the drafting this morning with 1,910 words. Solid.

TOOLS AND PROCESS: I reached the end of my Pacemaker plan this morning, which was for 100k by today. I'm at 114k, so I'm (well) ahead of my plan, but also the book isn't finished yet. But! I'm not that far from the end. About twenty (mostly very short) scenes to go. Pacemaker has been absolutely invaluable in keeping the tempo up as I finish this first draft, and I'll probably use it in reverse to track how much I'm cutting and how fast I'm doing it as I go through the first round of editing.

LISTENING: Loved this episode of Page One with Simon Scarrow, historical fiction novelist. I really enjoyed his Young Napoleon/Young Wellington books, and I've got a couple of his Roman-era books on my shelf I haven't got to yet.

WATCHING: We watched the first episode of PARADISE last night and really enjoyed it. I guessed the first episode twist about halfway through the episode, but it's very well put together, with an excellent script. Looking forward to more of it.

READING: More GOGMAGOG while travelling to and from Glasgow, which I'm still greatly enjoying. Reckon I'll finish it over the weekend, then I'll be focused on my current beta read until that's done.

LINK: Intrigued by the news that Matthew Macfadyen is set to play George Smiley in a new Le Carré TV adaptation. I briefly thought they meant Matthew McConaughey and was very confused. But Macfadyen could be very interesting, though he's stepping into three big sets of shoes - Alec Guinness, of course, Gary Oldman and the superb Simon Russell Beale in the BBC audio adaptations.

UP NEXT: I am so close to the end of this draft. I suspect I may do a bit of weekend writing just to get me over the line, but we'll see. Nearly there.

Onward!