Daynote - Mon 17 Feb
Another Monday rolls around.
An extremely light dusting of snow this morning, just for about ten minutes an hour or so after my morning walk. But it was chilly. No deer today, but I did see a crow and a sheep having a shouting match with each other (I don't know which of them was more confused), a buzzard swooping low across the field and two very friendly Yorkshire terriers at the beach, which is always a nice start to the day.
ON DECK: I'm well into the final quarter of the book now and slogging through scenes that I know are probably fine, but which feel like wading through treacle. In any case, I got 1,925 words this morning.
This is my usual 75k-80k slump, which happens with every book - all the pieces are in place for the climax of the narrative, but I need to actually manoeuvre the whole thing into port, so to speak. And right now, it feels vaguely impossible. It's not impossible, it's just 10-15k words ahead of me. And I've done this enough times to know the only way out is through.
LISTENING: I really enjoyed this interview with literary agent Jade Kavanagh at the Write and Wrong Podcast this morning. I'm always interested in hearing from folks working on the other side of the industry fence - it's fascinating to see how they see the authors and publishers they work with.
WATCHING: Finished SAS ROGUE HEROES over the weekend, which was excellent. Looking forward to an (I think inevitable?) third season.
READING: Really enjoying Richard Swan's THE TYRANNY OF FAITH - it's fascinating to see the characters from the first book in the context of a much more complex environment (the capital city of Sova and the Imperial court).
LINK: I shared this on a Discord server on Friday, then later on Bluesky, and now finally here, because it is just that useful. Check out Jules Arbeaux's Resources for Writers.
UP NEXT: It's another four day week for me, as I'm off to Napier again for another lecture on Friday. Other than that it's a quiet week on the personal front, so I'm hoping to get in a good, solid five days of writing in the mornings, walking and catching up with crit reading. PROJECT SCARLET is at 79k and I think I might crack 90k by the end of the week.
Onward!