Daynote - Fri 29 Nov

Out for a really nice walk today and met two very friendly Yorkshire Terriers. Plus lots of deer. Always a good start to the day.

ON DECK: I started my 'snowplough' edit (front-to-back, one chapter at a time) on SHARD this morning and felt immediate relief. I have a pretty big edit list, so what I'm done in my todo list app is to add a section at the top for 'Focus for current chapter'. When I start working on a new chapter, I pause, think about what it covers, and drag the points I need to remember while I'm working on it. That's a good way to quickly remind myself what I need to focus on and visually separate it from the Big List of Things That Need To Change - it's pretty effective. I got through two chapters and cut 75 words in aggregate this morning.

TOOLS: I was really happy to see that the excellent iOS cross-posting app Croissant now has a Mac version. This is brilliant, because it means I can pull up Croissant after finishing a post like this, paste in the URL and a description and post it simultaneously to Bluesky, Threads and Mastodon. So handy.

I should probably note here that I've mothballed my Twitter account (I'll always refuse to call it 'X'). Because I've been cross-posting for the best part of a year to multiple sites, I've seen in real time how quickly and severely the engagement has dropped on Twitter. As an author posting about books, writing and my work, it's become functionally useless and duplicative, especially as a lot of the crime and thriller people I followed (who were slower to leave than the SFF people) have all jumped ship now. I'll log in once a month or so to preserve the account, but I sincerely doubt I'll go back. I've got nearly double the followers on Bluesky now in any case, and they can actually see the stuff I post. A revolutionary concept for a social network.

LISTENING: Enjoyed the CrimeTime FM Christmas Debate this morning - some excellent picks by the panel.

WATCHING: I am married to an American, so we celebrated Thanksgiving last night with a very nice meal, then watched PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES. I always forget how synth-heavy the soundtrack is. But it's a classic comedy that holds up.

READING: More JUSTICE OF KINGS yesterday and now there's snakes. Why is it always snakes? That's an Indiana Jones gag, in case you're not familiar.

LINK: I enjoyed this long-form interview with SF writer John French over at Track of Words. I'm fascinated by the different approaches people take to balancing IP work with other kinds of creativity and this interview didn't disappoint. Part two here.

UP NEXT: Still waiting on Certain Decisions, so I'll forge ahead with SHARD. I really, really want to square it away this side of Christmas so I can properly clear the decks for, hopefully, a full-steam-ahead draft on PROJECT SCARLET. I have a plan and I have a few weeks left in the year, but we'll see how it goes. Onward!