Daynote - Tue 14 Jan

Lovely walk this morning, cool but not cold, full moon rising again over the beach. And I was in a good mood because the writing went well, which is always a good start to the day.

ON DECK: I did a bit more micro-outlining this morning, but once I'd done that I had a really clear idea of the direction I was heading in, so I got a very nice 1,632 words, taking my total word count to just under 32k.

It does sometimes feel like half the battle is just knowing what has to happen in a scene and why, as well as thinking even just a little bit about the best way to intercut POVs and keep the tension rising. For me, being able to see just a little bit ahead means I never have that 'uh-oh, what happens now' feeling that used to stop me dead when drafting, but I also don't have the 'oh god this is soooo booooring' feeling that resulted from over-planning and then marching my way through a spreadsheet plan. I've done both, and this middle way works very nicely for me.

TOOLS AND PROCESS: As I often do when I've bought an expensive bit of kit, I watch a lot of Youtube videos and read a lot of articles to reassure myself that I've made the right choice. I really enjoyed this video by Marisa Moureau about how she uses it for sketching. One of the things I'm hoping to use it for alongside marking up my drafts is this kind of quick sketching, though in my case mostly for drawing out layouts of locations in my books. So it's cool to see how the different tools can be used.

LISTENING: David Headley posted his '25 Books to look out for in 2025' podcast episode over the weekend and it's an excellent list.

WATCHING: Sometimes when we sit down of an evening we've run out of current shows to watch, which is when we often pick one of our favourite Youtube channels. I really enjoy the travel vlogger Steve Marsh, a fellow Scot who goes all over Europe by train, ferry, bus and more.

One of his recent videos was a lot closer to home though - the old Cultybraggan POW camp (now community owned). This video was such a weird trip down memory lane for me, because I visited 'Culty' many times while serving in my university Officer Training Corps in the early 2000s. And now they've turned some of the old Nissen Huts into holiday lets. I'm half tempted to go for a wee holiday.

READING: More of MK Hardy's boat book. It is now definitively hotting up, plot-wise.

LINK: Loved this article in the Times about Mick Herron and his mildly amused dismay that the head of SIS (MI6) is such a big fan. It's a great look at the line between fiction and fact in the spy novel game.

UP NEXT: Now that I have a solid micro-outline, I reckon I will finish Part 2 of PROJECT SCARLET by the end of the week? It's a four part book and I suspect I'll come in at around 35k for the end of Part 2. Parts 3 and 4 are going to be a lot beefier. I might end up adding a fifth part, we'll see. But it's going well and I've yet to hit The Wall, which for me usually happens around the 50-60k mark.

I'm slightly envious of writers who tell me they hit the Wall earlier and know that once they're past, say, 30k or so they know they'll be able to finish the book. Because suddenly feeling like your book sucks and you have no idea to finish it when it's more than halfway done is kind of demoralising, since it's a significant sunk cost of time and effort. Still, I've written enough books now to know that the emotions I feel at this point are largely irrelevant to either the quality or how likely I am to finish the thing, and that the only way out is through.

Onward!