Jon's Author Diary - 124 - February 9, 2020

Welcome to Jon's author diary for the week ending February 9, 2020. I write this in a lot of pain because on Thursday I went to hospital and had my shoulder scanned and pumped full of steroids. It’s as if someone has come down on it with a brick. I have a heat pack and some ibuprofen gel, so hopefully it should settle down over the next few days and I can start work on the physio exercises.   Temperance is out! Temperance, episode 14 of The Ravenglass Chronicles has just gone live and I’ve already started work on book 15, The Devil. Click HERE to order your copy. I’m really enjoying using the tarot cards as inspiration with this series—it's given me some great story ideas that I never would have considered on my own. I was revisiting the tower card to start brainstorming ideas for book 16, and it couldn’t be more perfect. I’m over 70 percent through the story and each card brings new excitement, energy, and surprises. I just need to work out what I should do after The Ravenglass Chronicles is complete…assassin series, anyone?   Twitter update I finished reading the book Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport. It gave me a lot to think about in terms of my relationship with social media. I decided I was long overdue to close my Twitter account. I started using Twitter in 2009, so it's something I've used for over a decade. It was a great platform when I worked as a reporter, but for the last couple of years it’s become a toxic cesspool of tribalism, anger, and people looking to ruin the lives of others to score political points. I don’t need that crap in my life. I had to weigh up what I was actually getting from the platform and realised I was only staying on Twitter because I occasionally get messages from readers. I figured that if readers want to get in touch, they would find a way. Closing it feels like a small weight has been lifted.   Groundhog Day Last weekend, I appeared on the latest episode of the Now You’ve Seen It podcast to talk about Groundhog Day, the Bill Murray movie from the 90s. I’d never seen it before and I thoroughly enjoyed the film. The podcast was a lot of fun to record and many laughs were had by all. You can find Now You’ve Seen It wherever you get your podcasts.   The Good Place I watched the finale of The Good Place this week. If you’ve not seen it, it’s a Netflix comedy series set in the afterlife. It’s produced by the same people who did things like Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Parks and Recreation. The writing is tremendous and manages to create the perfect balance between comedy and an exploration of what it means to be a good person. The final episode fully encapsulated that, and I’d be a liar if I said it didn’t bring a tear to my eye. I can't remember the last time I watched a show with such a perfect ending (maybe Breaking Bad did). I think back to shows I loved like Battlestar Galactica and Lost, which didn’t have satisfying finales, and am thankful the writers of The Good Place delivered an amazing finale. And Janet might be one of my favourite characters in anything…except Sam Vimes.