The (heavy, clunky, formerly high-tech) hermes 3000 in action

32. Friday 6 February 2026

Today has been an unsettling day (my mum is kind of fine but did have to go to hospital in an ambulance; I live about 400 miles away – she was discharged early evening, fortunately, and I’ll see her early next week). Both before and during all that, I did actually finish version 3. I know I should feel really excited but, unsurprisingly, I feel distracted by other things.

                Today’s photo is of the Hermes 3000 typewriter I used to type something in the penultimate chapter that is typed in the story. I figure it’s some kind of Stanislavski method-writing. (There is also some sourdough prooving in the background - of course there is!)

                My plan now is to read through version 3 in as few sittings as possible (I mean, it’s so good I should be able to read it in one go?!!), get home to London (that I live in both rural Scotland and London is not as “wow, two homes” as it might sound) and take a break from the novel.