Daynote - Wed 6 Nov

For various reasons, I was up extremely early, so I watched the result from the US unfold in real time. It was not a good experience. Solidarity to my friends and family there and here who are feeling this loss. It feels like a pretty bleak morning. I sincerely hope the worst excesses are checked by what remains of the democratic and legal guardrails in the US, but I fear they won't be.

ON DECK: To distract myself, I wrote. A lot. About three hours of work. The net result was 8 words gained in the manuscript, but there was a lot of chopping and changing and editing to get to that number. I'm feeling robustly positive about this draft, at least, if nothing else.

TOOLS: I think once you realise the main and best way to put things into Reminders is via Siri, then process them later, it becomes a much more valuable tool. With Things, I'm used to keyboard entry, but that requires being at a computer. On iOS, it was always a bit fiddly. Capture with Siri, by contrast, is much smoother and faster. I do need to experiment a bit to see if I can put things in lists, tag them and so on.

Fiddling with systems is how I sublimate stress, by the way, in case you were wondering.

LISTENING: I enjoyed yesterday's edition of Scriptnotes, about waiting for opportunities and news. It felt timely, even if it was talking about the dynamics in Hollywood.

WATCHING: We displacement-watched AGATHA ALL ALONG last night, which kept us distracted. Good stuff.

READING: A single chapter of DEATH IN THE ARCTIC last night. I continue to have no idea who's behind the murder.

UP NEXT: I think I should have this sample re-worked by the end of the week. It's going pretty well, and I'm pretty happy with it. We'll see how I go.