David Goodman's Blog, page 3

Daynote - Tue 4 Nov

I had a great time at the Edinburgh Writer's Club last night, chatting to a room full of writers who had a lot of questions: about writing craft, about the industry, about query letters, you name it. It was great fun, and hopefully I managed to provide a good mix of useful information, morale-boosting encouragement and realism. Huge thanks to Zebib K. Abraham for inviting me and organising the session. If you're an Edinburgh-based author, I can recommend the experience.

ON DECK: More page proofs...

Daynote - Mon 3 Nov

Hello! I'm back, after a busy-but-restful week off. Busy because I did a couple of book things, restful because I also got a lot of sleep, saw family, played a lot of ARC Raiders and Battlefield 6 and read a heap of books. Holidays are good.

However, they also end, so this morning I was back out in the woods, getting a bit damp from the rain, scritching dogs behind the ear and generally reacquainting myself with the routine.

ON DECK: No new words this morning because, while I was off, my page pr...

Daynote - Fri 24 Oct

Early start on the dayjob today, so no walk. But I did get some words down, so I'll call that a win.

ON DECK: 1,348 words this morning - it's fun writing scenes where characters are hiding things from each other, because for me they tend to flow quite easily - there's lots to be written both to show the surface level conversation and imply the secondary, hidden one. Almost as much fun as writing big, multi-POV action sequences.

TOOLS AND PROCESS: I finished switching everything over as mentioned...

Daynote - Thu 23 Oct

A slow start to the morning today - got to bed a bit late, so I took the extra hour of sleep rather than heading out for a walk. I also had some admin to do that took a bite out of my writing time. A bit annoying, but hey-ho.

ON DECK: A svelte 318 words this morning. I started a new scene and wasn't firing on all cylinders, plus I was working with a smaller unit of time. But a bit of progress is a bit of progress.

TOOLS AND PROCESS: I have, for the umpteenth time, been mulling task management ag...

Daynote - Wed 22 Oct

Back out this morning and it's the first time this year that the sun has been below the horizon when I reach the woods. And, of course, this weekend the clocks go back, so fairly soon I'll be starting my morning walks in darkness. This time of year always comes around quicker than I expect.

However, I saw lots of deer in the woods, threw the ball (twice!) for Poppy the Labrador at the beach and had some excellent writing time this morning.

ON DECK: A very satisfying 2,246 words today. Sometimes y...

Daynote - Tue 21 Oct

A dreich start to the day here in Scotland, with drizzle most of the night. I was informed of this fact by a wet cat first thing this morning, so I used the time I'd normally spend walking in the woods to do a bit more writing and some writing-related admin.

ON DECK: A solid 1,090 words this morning on the DRIFT manuscript, which is about 25% done at a shade under 30,000 words. Again this is a story I'm sort of feeling my way through, so it's slowish going and I'm pausing frequently to have a we...

Daynote - Mon 20 Oct

Back on it this morning. I had an early meeting today, so no walk, meaning the leaves above are stock photography (though representative of the woods near me). We did get out for a nice walk on Sunday though. A proper October chill in the air. Lovely.

ON DECK: A very solid 1,366 words this morning on DRIFT. Pushing the work forward slowly but surely.

LISTENING: I enjoyed this interview with Peter James on the Quick Book Reviews podcast - the recent food-themed episodes are a hoot.

WATCHING: A bit...

Daynote - Fri 17 Oct

A really lovely evening in Edinburgh last night, speaking with Gareth Brown about his second novel THE SOCIETY OF UNKNOWABLE OBJECTS, which I've been reading over the past week or so. It was a great turnout and a really lovely evening sitting below the lit-up Edinburgh Castle and talking about magic, writing, travel and much more. Some great questions from the audience too. Thank you to everyone who came along, to Gareth for asking me to chair the session and the wonderful Matthew at Waterstones...

Daynote - Thu 16 Oct

No walk this morning, because I got a Very Exciting Email last night and it somewhat kept me awake.

ON DECK: The Very Exciting Email meant I was reading and replying early this morning, so no words, unless you count exclamation marks and excited email replies. Sometimes things just sail right into your inbox out of a clear blue sky and you just have to roll with it.

I also spent a bit of yesterday evening putting my questions together for Gareth Brown, who I'm in conversation with at Waterstones ...

Daynote - Wed 15 Oct

Back home, but not quite back to the routine. I was up late reading for my event tomorrow, so I skipped the walk and just cracked on with the last bit of copyediting on the next book.

I also had a brilliant time last night chatting to the reviewer and awards judge AJ Hawley for his podcast 'AJ Hawley's World of Crime'. The episode is already up and you can listen on Spotify or the embedded player below.

ON DECK: There was an unresolved query from the first round of copyedits that I spoke to my...