Daynote - Thu 30 Jan

I was slightly daunted when I realised I'd accidentally planned to attend three book events in a row this week, but I'm actually doing okay sleep-wise (although missing my morning walks) and last night's event with David McCloskey was very much worth it.

I was lucky enough to receive a proof of David's latest book, THE SEVENTH FLOOR, from his UK publisher Swift Press, and we've been in touch over email a couple of times, so it was a delight to meet him in person and get my books signed. David's book DAMASCUS STATION was at least part of the inspiration for setting half of A RELUCTANT SPY abroad, and he spoke at length about the process of writing that book, his difficult second book MOSCOW X and the huge enjoyment he took in writing his third. It was a really great event and I left feeling excited about working on my own books, which is always a plus.

ON DECK: A cheeky 1,776 words this morning on PROJECT SCARLET and the story is about to kick into another action set piece, which are always the fastest parts of my first draft. I've cracked 8k for the week already, so I suspect I might tip over 10k tomorrow.

I'm also heading into town again tonight, this time for Tom Hindle's event at the same venue with Toppings. Pilrig St Paul's is a lovely church I've never been to before, and now I'll have been twice in two days!

I also got two terrific bits of publishing news yesterday, neither of which I can share. But trust me, they're awesome.

TOOLS AND PROCESS: I absolutely, 100%, do NOT need an additional e-ink device, as I now have a Kobo Libra for reading and my Supernote Manta for writing and editing. But boy, I am fascinated by the Boox Palma 2, the new version of the e-ink Android device that's not a phone, but kind of looks like one. I was really intrigued when Craig Mod wrote about the first version of this device, and v2 looks even more interesting.

I sometimes fantasise about ditching my smartphone and going entirely back to a much less capable brick in my pocket that can only do texts and calls. Right now, these Boox devices are e-Readers that only look like phones, but I can see a market for a simple, e-ink based phone that has very long battery life, can do basic comms like text messaging, but isn't a huge attention suck like a smartphone is. But right now, my Kobo is what I'll do most of my digital reading on.

LISTENING: The excellent Spybrary podcast had David McCloskey on to talk about THE SEVENTH FLOOR - if you couldn't make it to one of his UK events like the one I went to last night, this interview is a pretty solid alternative.

WATCHING: The BBC has a great documentary series called Inside The Factory and the most recent episode is all about how hardback books are made. The factory they go to, Clays Ltd, is where my book was printed! You can watch it on iPlayer if you're based in the UK.

READING: A tiny bit more of Eve Smith's THE CURE in transit yesterday. The stakes are building...

LINK: I'm intrigued to see that Andy Cox and Richard Wagner, who previously collaborated at TTA Press on the magazines Interzone and Black Static, are working together on a new horror quarterly called REMAINS. It's always awesome to see new magazines launching.

UP NEXT: One more event tonight and one more writing day this week, and hopefully I'll break 10k for the week. I've run out of road again with micro-outlined chapters, so I'll possibly take a bit of time tomorrow to prep for next week and get more put together.

The current draft is over the halfway mark now at 53k, but I'm probably 30-40% of the way through my planned plot beats. Of course, those beats may change or shorten as I micro-outline, or I may end up going over my word count by 10 or 15k words. But that's what editing is for. I've learned not to get too worried about these things too early.

Onward!