Dunking Tunnock's Caramel bars, a picnic & the writing of the party chapter

24. Wednesday 28 January 2026

Today, I edited two chapters and wrote a third, a chapter about a party that I’d sort of accidentally forgotten to write in version 2. It felt like a fairly productive day and I think I found a way to write about the party without describing the whole thing. The crime writing lesson before the party included discussion on using one significant event to make whatever point you want to make about, say, a whole day. So I wrote about one thing out of the ordinary that happened to each of the five characters (not including James, whose house they were at) at the party. It needs work, unsurprisingly, but I managed to incorporate quite a lot of information I hadn’t otherwise been sure how to put across.

                I edited one chapter before writing the party chapter. When it came to starting the party chapter, I decided to bake my seventh sourdough loaf. This meant setting timers for about half an hour (for the oven to heat up), twenty minutes (for lid-on cook time), twenty minutes (for lid-off cook time) and about an hour for the bread to cool enough to make a first slice (for a sliver of crust with melted butter). I used these short bursts of time to write. I think it helped because it gave me focus. I then didn’t let myself make lunch until I’d finished the chapter. My lunch was prawn mayo with avocado and little gem lettuce, which I packed in a lunch box with two half-slices of fresh bread. I also packed a Tunnock’s Caramel bar and the rest of my flask of coffee and walked out in the sun (it was like March today!) to eat my lunch on the riverbed. I felt suitably rewarded for getting a “big” chapter written in an uncharacteristically short timeframe.

In other news, I discovered that Tunnock’s Caramel bars taste better dunked in hot coffee so the outer chocolate melts and I prefer Tunnock’s Teacakes. I started sourdough loaf eight, I repaired a small wooden table I bought at auction and I contemplated what I could put in front of our large multifuel burner that looks warm and cosy for when I don’t light it and it looks like a cold, dark gap in the wall. It was a quiet day. I ate quite a few Twiglets.