David Goodman's Blog, page 7

Daynote - Tue 19 Aug

Back out to the woods today, for the first time in a while. I'm making good progress on the edit and I'm on track, so I have eased off the accelerator a bit and got outside, which was lovely. All of a sudden it feels very autumnal - everything cloaked in soft mist, geese flying overhead, the temperature dropping into the low teens. I even wore a jacket today!

Yesterday the secret good news became concrete and I'm very excited. No idea when I'll be able to talk about it, but suffice to say it's so...

Daynote - Mon 18 Aug

Back to it this morning after a very busy weekend. About six hours of editing on Saturday (deadlines) but a very, very nice farewell lunch on Sunday for a good friend of mine who's moving to Australia in a week. Bittersweet but lovely.

I'm also (hence the stock photo pick above) waiting on some news today. Which I can't talk about. But it's exciting.

Yesterday, the lovely folks at Goldsboro Books also did a really nice spotlight post about A RELUCTANT SPY, which was the launch title for their amaz...

Daynote - Fri 15 Aug

Much cooler today, which is a relief. I do not function well in temperatures above 25°C, especially in high-humidity Scotland. One of many reasons I was glad to move home from London fifteen years ago.

Oh hey look it's Friday! Hooray!

Also - A RELUCTANT SPY is still on an Audible 2-for-1 deal and it's absolutely rocketed up the charts. It's at #126 in the whole UK chart this morning and at number 42 in the Mystery and Thriller category. Very chuffed to have cracked the top 50 and in some excellen...

Daynote - Thu 14 Aug

It's a humid and thundery morning here in East Central Scotland. Feels cooler than yesterday so far though. No walk, because I got up a bit late after a late night working on fiddly edits. A rare evening bit of writing.

Also, a very happy publication day to my friend and fellow Bloody Scotland Debut Prize nominee Claire Wilson, whose excellent crime thriller FIVE BY FIVE comes out today in a gorgeous paperback.

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Daynote - Wed 30 Jul

Sometimes drafting feels great. Sometimes it feels like climbing a never-ending staircase. Today was one of the latter days.

ON DECK: A grand total of 4 words (aggregate) today, as I did a little consolidation edit on the words so far. One of the downsides of going light on the outlining is that you sometimes need to stop and shore up the foundations before you go much further. But I'm happy now that I can set off into the next 2-3 chapters without everything behind me being a bit wobbly.

LISTENIN...

Daynote - Tue 29 Jul

No nice forest picture this morning because my cat Olaf snuggled into me this morning and I fell back asleep and didn't get out for my walk. But I used the little bit of extra time well to get a decent writing session done.

ON DECK: 1,230 words this morning and a decent bit of plot progression. Having a lot of fun with the worldbuilding on DRIFT.

TOOLS AND PROCESS: As I've noted before, DRIFT is a bit unusual because it's a very high level outline for me and I'm not doing a huge amount of outlin...

Daynote - Mon 28 Jul

Last morning of minding the pup today, so I had a slow start since I was packing up and getting myself together to head home. But we had a very nice walk.

ON DECK: Well, my weekend of planned writing didn't pan out. I stared at my WIP for a while on both days, but ended up journalling instead, still processing everything that happened last week. I've been a regular journaler for about twenty years now, in both digital and physical notebooks, and it's a key part of keeping me happy and balanced as...

Daynote - Fri 25 Jul

I've learned this soulful stare means River is about ready to go for a walk. When I was writing this morning, I could feel him watching me really quite closely to determine when the lead and harness might come out.

ON DECK: A reasonable 581 words this morning. Still a bit behind the pace, but I'll be dogsitting this weekend and I think I'll write a bit and take advantage of the time chilling with the dog.

LISTENING: Really enjoyed this interview with M.H. Ayinde recorded by the Page One Podcast a...

Daynote - Thu 24 Jul

Say hello to River - he's the Border Terrier I'm looking after this week. I've been around dogs before, of course, but this is my first time dogsitting. So far it's going well, once I learned to keep cupboard doors closed and items away from surface edges. We had a lovely walk this morning - it's very humid in Edinburgh at the moment, but also sunny. Very pleasant indeed.

ON DECK: Now I'm settled in at the house-sit, I had a good session this morning, a little over pace at 1,150 words on PROJECT ...

Daynote - Wed 23 Jul

Up very early this morning (well, the regular time, but I had to move faster than normal to catch a train) as I'm staying in Edinburgh for the next few days to look after my friend's dog. I'm still buzzing after yesterday's announcement that I've sold another book to Headline! Check that link out for the details.

ON DECK: A svelte 401 words this morning once I'd arrived at my dogsitting destination and got settled. It's going pretty well, though I'm behind my planned pace. But I'm doing what I ca...