Daynote - Mon 16 Dec
In which I spend too much on coffee.
Back in town again after a very busy weekend. I had my first Christmas party of the season and spent it standing in a corner talking to two other author mates about publishing stuff. Which, to be clear, was an excellent evening.
Then yesterday I was in town for breakfast with family, followed by a bit of Christmas shopping and signing books at Toppings.
The day and the weekend were then topped off with my usual weekly crit group meeting, although this one was our annual 'look back/look forward' session, where we look at what we managed to achieve in the last year and then talked about our goals and dreams for the next year. It's an amazing and affirming thing to do with your writer friends, as well as a timely reminder of all of the amazing things that can get lost in the chop and shuffle of everyday life. Highly recommended.
ON DECK: I've worked out a new, temporary routine that's working well - up at the usual time, an hour of writing at home, then train to town and another hour in a cafe (train delays/cancellations permitting). So I'm getting a couple of hours in fits and starts each day at the moment, despite all the commuting. I got -336 words today and I'm about 2k words short of the exact halfway point. Nice.
All this coffee shop writing is costing an absolute mint though.
TOOLS AND PROCESS: A word about the M1 Macbook Air. I got one of these about a year back, after a few years of using an iPad with a Magic Keyboard. That was great and very portable, but the M1 Macbook Air is, I think, the best Apple device for writers at the moment. It's a bit cheaper (because it's 3 or 4 generations back chip-wise) and can be had even cheaper as a refurb. But it has incredible battery life, a great keyboard, it's very light and it absolutely flies for Scrivener, Word and Canva, which are the main things I use it for. I don't think it would necessarily be as good as the only computer you have (you might want something with more RAM/storage/a newer chip) but as an out-and-about writing computer, it's phenomenal.
LISTENING: I've been listening to back episodes of Nadine Matheson's podcast 'The Conversation' (in preparation for recording my own episode early next year) and really enjoyed this one with Erin Kelly, who I saw in the late night slot with Mark Billingham at this year's Bloody Scotland. It's a great episode and Erin has a lot to say about perseverance in the world of publishing.
WATCHING: We started watching BLACK DOVES on Netflix last night and it's so far excellent. Hell of an opening hook and Ben Whishaw and Keira Knightley are great.
READING: I finished THE JUSTICE OF KINGS last night. Superb. I immediately added the next book to my bedside stack.
LINK: Another excellent post from George Sandison at Titan on hooks, opening lines and blinkers, wherein he talks about some of the things that have made him sit up and take notice of a book in the submission process.
UP NEXT: I suspect I'll be in town daily for most of this week, so probably a bunch more editing. Decisions remain outstanding, so I'm continuing with SHARD edits for now. Just about to pass the halfway point. I think I'm still on course to finish before Christmas. We shall see.