Yesterday I mocked up a cover for my #SecretBookProject and used Scrivener, my word processor of choice, to export what I’ve written as a PDF and sent it to my iPad. This is not something I’m sharing as it will give the game away but it’s a fun little exercise and it helps me identify books visually rather than the generic Books icon. When I eventually change this series’ slug, I’ll share the banner, a variant on said DIY cover, but for now, know that it looks awesome, and the actual cover art will be a billion times cooler.

I would print it, my manuscript, but the whole vision thing is an issue and, honestly, while it is cool to print it, I much prefer working digitally. I even bought a new Apple Pencil Pro for the occasion (my bigger iPad doesn’t work with the older Pencil…)

I love Scrivener for many reasons: auto-save, auto-backups, hacing each document as a stand alone, it’s so much more workable than Word, and much less buggy too. But the real MVP here is the ability to export to ePub, Word, Rich Text and a dozen other formats. I like doing it to PDF because then I can go in and manually mark up each page in Books, noting errors, things I need to fix or just notes for myself about something needing clarification or better connective tissue.

Editing is cathartic. But it’s also time-consuming. Doing it digitally means I can do it anywhere, on the bus to Norwich, at Costa, waiting for a movie to start… I hate wasting time and, given that the draft is due in a month (and I am on schedule to meet it), I hate to just waste time.

I also need background noise, so I’ve taken to spending the morning in Costa, put on a movie and get some work done, then head home, put on a TV series (I’m currently rewatching House of the Dragon) on my big TV and sit and work. I’ll be keeping odd hours for a few weeks as my PT is on holiday, meaning I have no real commitments bar any job interviews (I remain hopeful in that respect…) This is prime editing time, especially as another heatwave (🤬🤬🤬) is due next week so I want to use every hour I can, including leaving this for a week to sit, and have formated and uploaded to a Google Doc.

As you can see, I’ve not hit my target despite the deadline being tomorrow. This is intentional. I want to give myself some space to finish everything up. I might cut some stuff but, honestly, it’s 90% done. I even went through and finalised the chapters (with Roman numerals and everthing; there are XXII, plus a prefact, introduction, acknowledgements and at least one appendix). A couple of the titles need a bit more work but that’s also a part of the process for me. The last part is just finishing up for flow, fact-checking and the editing pass itself.

But we are so nearly there, and I’m—in the words of my friend—buzzing with excitement. Once it’s submitted, I can take a much-deserved week off (for Hyper Japan) and then think about my next project!

Until next time!

#SecretBookProject: From Pitch to Publication is a periodic series in which Asha discusses writing their first non-fiction book.

This week has been hell.

The Met Office (for non-Brits, that’s the Meteorological Office) is calling it ‘exceptional’. That’s never a good term when it comes to a heatwave. Their full announcement on X read:

Yikes… no…

I’ve done heatwaves… I did Paris in 41C in 2010 (the Metro was 42C). My hotel room had no AC; I slept in a wet towel. The bathtub was a brief consideration…

But British heatwaves, they are a different kind of hell.

Look at this:

And I wasn’t even in the centre of it, I’m on the outskirts for a change. The last heatwave we had, in May, was East of England/East Anglia-centric. Not fun.

Also, it’s June, what is August going to be like?

So for the next few days I will be living in places with air con. I will be working in Costa, in the cinema, seeing Supergirl. The issue isn’t the day, it’s the night.

Oh and I will probably have to give up coffee because it’s too hot to drink it, well hot, and I hate the taste cold…

Honestly, this week has been too hot to work. But worked I have. From 2am to 7am, and then done everything else to just survive… To make it to the next part of the day where the fiery skyball is not raging over mainland England. Frotunatelly, I am now full into Editing Mode, which is a lot easier than Writing Mode.

So let’s talk about my editing process.

I always start editing befoee I finish a manuscript, that way I can write the last section once I’ve gone through the whole script, but the words creep as I editing. I try to leave it in a drawer, which I plan to later this week, for a few days just to let it sit. To do something else, to start thinking about my next project…

Editing isn’t just about typos and grammar; it’s about checking for clarity both in word structure as well as facts. I need to make sure certain sections are concise and clear, that everything is spelt consistently through the entire text (which is especially important as I tend to work in American English and use macron). Even with decades of experience in US English, there are always random words like ‘phaze’ which get me every time….

Also, there’s repetition. Back when I was in uni, we all edited each other’s essays (when they weren’t being written in all-nighters, anyway…) The one which stands out to me was written by my friend MC. I don’t remember the topic, but it was for some element of our Catholic theology course and she kept repeating, every half page or so one particular phrase;

The Lord is my Shepherd…

I nixed like six of those.

But, yes, repetition happens. Most of the time, it’s because you need words and accidentally cycle back on your initial argument. I was eiditng a chapter and did this twice… So I created a blank document and carefully went through the prior one and put it back together, removing the extra stuff and turning it into a cohesive piece of prose.

The weird thing for me is that everything I’ve needed has found its way to me. Authors I’ve followed on Substack or social media have discussed topics I needed to double-check. Real-world events have helped clarify my arguments, and it feels like the universe is telling me this is the right time for this manuscript.

It’s due 1st August. I still have a lot to do, a lot to check, a little more to write, but this really is the homeward stretch.

Until next time!

#SecretBookProject: From Pitch to Publication is a periodic series in which Asha discusses writing their first non-fiction book.

I find research fun, especially when it’s about subjects I’m passionate about. That thrill as a kid getting an old set of encyclopedias and just inhaling… I still love the smell of old books to this day, bonus points if it’s an old shop like Peter’s in Sheringham, where I spent many a Saturday growing up.

The key question, in this AI-saturated world, is how does one research? So look, while I do pre-date the internet and I also find some uses in AI purely when dealing with data or very rarely when I need a visual check on a specific hand gesture (mudrā) from some obscure Buddhist statue… I do everything by hand. I still triple-check the result, even if it seems accurate because I’m not an idiot.

AI is a tool, it’s all about how you use it, and my job is all about being human. Every word in my articles and manuscripts is one I’ve typed manually. Or occasionally cut and paste when it’s complex kanji that I really don’t want to type out manually… Sue me…

The point is I write. I think. I mull. I type. I check. Then I double-check.

I’m also trying to take care to document my process. We have everything being run through AI checkers, even classic literture is coming back as ‘AI-generated’ because AI was trained on those same works.

Epic fail. Honestly.

Anyway, with this (justified) rage against the machine when it comes to novels, books and research. I find myself leaning into my academic background. Back when I was studying for my BA (Hons.) in Theology and Religious Studies (I got a 2:1 as well), I was lucky enough to be the first wave of internet academia but, as is the way of things, I started in the analogue age: with books. with papers, with citations (I can do Harvard in my sleep…).

What this taught me was how to think, how to research, and how to develop a train of thought from idea to publication or submission.

The issue with AI is not that it can do everything for us, it’s that it's going to destroy our ability to think, to ask, to question, to explore. To be able to tell when something is true or made up.

So while I’m no longer in a ‘cite your sources’ frame of mind. I keep those lessons close. I have hundreds of links (I do so love being able to use the internet to do almost all of my research… But I’m hoping to add some museum visits for my next book project, just for variety…) I have a notebook, my own version of an academic’s field journals, where I write down ideas, mindmap, plan chapters and add in notes to remind myself if my laptop is shut…

My academic senpai, Kaitlyn, recommended this book to me a few years back and it’s just what I needed. It also doesn’t matter if you’re a scientist or a humanities academic, notes can and will save your butt, as well as being easy to have on you and much more reliable than a phone…\

Because, as we learned in my Journalism series, you’re battery will not respect your ideas at 3am in the morning or when you have a brilliant idea and it’s down to 8%.

The idea goes hand-in-hand with what I learned at journalism school. Contemporaneous notes (aka notes made at the time of a thing, it’s my favourite term from my law class). Always have them. I still remember being taught why, in shorthand class (Teeline, if you needed to know… Gods, I am OLD), keeping notes is so important.

Shorthand notes, if you didn’t know, like those made when covering a story, are legally admissible in court. So by keeping a reporter’s notebook, starting at the front, dating and timing every entry, and then flipping over and working back, you create an improbable document to forge which records everything as you go…

(I said ‘improbable’ because it’s entirely possible to fake, but WTFF would you? Honestly? In shorthand???)

I’ve honestly not been quite as diligent about this for the #SecretBookProject as I’d like, but I’m still finding my system, so it’s a work in progress…There will be a follow-up article through, once I figure it out.

(I have two boxes of unused Field Notes, they’re the right size and perfect for shorter projects and longer ones… Time to use them…)

Hmmmmm… Stationery.

Until next time!

#SecretBookProject: From Pitch to Publication is a periodic series in which Asha discusses writing their first non-fiction book.

We did it, folks, we’re into three figures!! Yes, the homeward stretch is a of here and I’m about to finish the manuscript and begin my editing phrase.

You know, I wasn’t sure I could do this. I mean I’m not going to consciously default on a contract, especially one with an advance, when I’m very used to due dates from two decades of living and dying by them. But it’s only in the last few days that this manuscript has turned another corner. But you know that moment when you’re just not sure… A moment when it all just seems to big to deal with, too much to swallow. It’s illogical and stupid but if you had my brain, or a similar one, I’m sure you’ve had that moment.

IBS (unrelated stress, yay!) and a long queue of films, TV shows and YouTube queue have helped. I’ve been stuck to my chair since Friday, feeing rotten, so what else was I going to do but write and binge videos? This includes a deep dive into making a chicken mummy, which I really recommend. And it’s not relevant at all (seriously, I mean it this time.), I’m just in awe of science geeks who want to learn what chicken mummy tastes like. It’s an oldie but one of my favourites…

Obviously, this isn’t my longest work. I’ve written several longer novels, but this is my first non-fiction book with a contract and a delivery date. So it’s different, like my dissertations but on steroids. Fortunately, the editorial team have been uber-supportive too, which is awesome.

And I’m still loving every minute of it. Even as I start thinking about new projects. I know I prefer books to journalism, anyway. I’ve got four shorrer book pitches out for consideration and I really do wanna write some fiction.

I’m excited to be going to Hyper Japan next month as a member of the media next month too. It’s a chance for a break from everything (I’m going Friday and Saturday, leaving Sunday morning). I need a break, a minute to do something fun, I want to see Queen Bee (one of my absolute favourite bands) and network, and do some press junkets! I’ve missed just doing press junkets, with my tiny microphones and my peers.

Also, the food, the merch, the Suntory… and the stationery! And being able to get in early, using said press pass, so I can get my bearings and be the first in line for karaage. Nom nom nom…

So the next week or so is about winding up all the chapters. I then need to put this manuscript in a metaphorical drawer for a week or so before starting my first proper editorial pass.

Everything is coming together….

Until next time!

#SecretBookProject: From Pitch to Publication is a periodic series in which Asha discusses writing their first non-fiction book.

One of the important things I learned is that if you write about a niche, you will, eventually, start to connect it with things in a bad way. I have many games, for example, that physically hurt me to play because I unconsciously connect them with something bad or embarrassing that happened to me.

Because Rejection Sensitivity Disorder is a thing and I have it on steroids. Sometimes it’s justified, other times it’s just really, really random…

Also, because of my magical mix of ASD and ADHD it’s so very easy to hyper-fixate and then burn out too quickly. My Substack Drafts folder is the living, organic expression of this.

So when I started #SecretBookProject, I knew I had to be careful. I remained curious. I tried to hang onto that sense of wonder and beauty as I wrote. Books involve a lot of work, which is mostly time because no one can write 125k overnight, much less in a week. I learned long ago at uni that the last minute is rarely a good idea.

The other big thing is the research, which takes up the real bulk. Because for every page you read, there is hours on YouTube, Wikipedia, Jstor, my personal archive and those rabbit holes I mentioned last time. While I love books, as an academic and being blind (sorry, my offcial designation is actually ‘severely sight impaired’), the internet is my biggest tool. I can load things I need onto my iPad and dual-screen, checking details whilst working on the text. I like to check just to confirm my own understanding, after all in order to explain—let’s say, from the subjects —a specific myth or how a sect of Buddhism works, I need to first have the knowledge and understanding myself

I will be doing a fact-checking pass, and I will talk about what that means another time, but I try to check as I go just because it serves as a foundation for the text.

But my biggest focus has been ‘reading’. This doesn’t mean books and papers, this means looking at visual art—tapestries, statues, art like pottery, anything which involves looking at something and decoding where it was made, when and by whom, but also by what it means.

I first learned this skill when I was in my Classical Civilisations class at A Level. We learned to look at statues—like the Niké of Samothace (now in the Louvre, in Paris). This statue still blows my mind, decades later, once sat in the palm of the Zeus statue in Olympia, one of the ancient wonders. And it’s life-sized… which just gives you scale about the statue of Zeus on a throne.

Anyway, once you learn how to read, it becomes a transferable skill, from porcelain to gilded statues. The only requirement is grounding in a specific geographic discipline. I started with ancient Greek statuary, colourful and bright and moved to Rome and Egypr then over to Asia, focusing on China, Korea and Japan.

Research is never a static thing; I keep notes as field guides, as well as my research history. I try to use lots of different kinds of media, from books and websites, but also podcasts and games, audiobooks and YouTube documentaries.

The trick is to remember that as you learn, your project changes and the text will only become fixed and static on the day it goes to the printers. So I’m happy revisiting otherwise complete chapters as I learn new things or clarify my understanding. As I said earlier, to write about a subject, it’s vital you also understand it first.

I’m listening to the rain as I write this, knowing that in two short months this manuscript will be submitted. This week will be a busy one but, even now, as I start to edit and finish chapters, linking them into the next ones, that there’s an end in sight but also a way to go.

Until next time!

#SecretBookProject: From Pitch to Publication is a periodic series in which Asha discusses writing their first non-fiction book.

My weekend has been glorious. The UK has had its first heatwave (the high was supposed to be 32°C/89°F) and it’s been brutal. So I’ve been diving deep into Wikipedia, reading anything and everything that took my interest…

(Seriously, I love having all of human knowledge at my fingertips… I grew up with books, and encyclopedias, and Encarta. Compared to that Wikipedia is like diving into an ocean…)

Oh and then I end up on Jstor, because I’m a humanities-focused academic, and remember my stash of academic papers in my ‘To Read’ pile… Yikes…

Oh, and I am, of course, still job hunting during my breaks…

Anyway, this has triggered my hyper-fixation on Chinese myth, Black Myth: Wukong and re-reading The Journey to the West.

None of this is relevant to my #SecretBookProject, it’s just a way to explain how my process can get really derailed by ADHD. Just by virtue of being a few doors (all right, maybe down a few streets next to the garage/7-11), down from the subject.

ADHD is so fun…

I spent yesterday really diving deep into some very specific information I needed to decode and understand. I use books and the internet. Fortunately, the data I had was in digital form and there’s nothing so satisfying as zooming in to get a better look.

At this point, as my vision continues to get worse, I’m all about getting things I can look at using an iPad. It’s just easier…

I also checked in my publisher re some housekeeping as, once I’ve ‘finished’ this first draft, I’ll be going in and pulling it apart, like I did earlier in the process. The chapters, as they are, are too long (roughly 8-10k each), so I need to create a second draft that takes this into account. But I also did some really enjoyable theorising yesterday.

I need to do some research, and this is more a note for myself, just to see how other books from my publisher concluded and how much I need, if it’s needed, for a concluding chapter. Also, there’s the preface to finish and the ending matter as well (acknowledgements and the like…)

I think this will probably be the last two weeks of actual writing. I can then move the pull-apart stage, along with the more intensive editing and fact-checking. I did most of that as I wrote, but I like to triple check. That’s one thing I learned from my dissertations, always triple check your data.

I’m still loving the process, though, dipping in and writing, it’s rare for me to enjoy something this intensive but that’s because it really is a passion project for me. And I know it’s not going to be chilling out until August, indeed I’ve still got a lot left to do.

Until next time!

#SecretBookProject: From Pitch to Publication is a periodic series in which Asha discusses writing their first non-fiction book.

I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m an astronomy nerd. I love starscapes and cosmic photography. I was in rapt awe at the Artemis II mission and I love seeing all the images NASA has released. Except I’m blind so I can’t really use a telescope… It’s weird, I know. But I have some apps which help, and my go-to wallpapers are either celestial, Japan-focused or game-related…

But this, this is an analogy, so we’re all good.

So, when you pitch a book to a publisher, you write a big document outlining each chapter you’re going to put in the book. It’s what they use to give them an idea of the tome you’re going to write so they make you an offer. This document then becomes the base for your book, although some stuff will always change.

Now that the #SecretBookProject is about to hit 75k, it’s becoming a lot more obvious that there was a black hole lurking in my original pitch. The trick is you can only see it by the fact it’s not obvious. you need to see the light being sucked in in order to find the damn thing. You have to look beyond the chapters and realise that your comprehensive book on [REDACTED] is missing a topic on [REDACTED].

(Yes, I will be going back and unredacting these later. But only when the manuscript has landed on my publisher’s desk and the project has been formally announced.)

Well, I just found my black hole and it’s a doozy. The one bonus of this is, of course, you suddenly have ten thousand words (ish) of new. easy to write words you didn’t have ten minutes prior. The downside is that you have to wait until two months or so before the draft is due to see it.

Because, well, it’s a black hole.

Worse, there might, sometimes, be more than one of them. Right now I think there’s just the one but as I get closer to 100k, there’s always a chance another one might pop up. Who knows! I’d be most curious to find a second one, in all honesty, because easy words but also I made a point of being really thorough in my proposal.

(For reference, the final script is probably going to be about 125-135k/400ish pages in total… amd I still have a load of sidebars and boxouts to write as part of the editing phase too…)

The upside is I’m on course for my finish date. I’m keen to get the main body text down ASAP because juggling freelancing and book-writing is hard, y’all. Especially as I’m actively full-time job hunting too right now. Editing is going to be a whole other kettle of fish. Personally, asI like to file a week or so before the deadline, I’m super keen to have as much time editing as I can get.

I subscribe to the theory that something is always going to be thrown at you when you least expect it, so I’d definitely rather over-write now than need an extension later (and I do not want to ask for an extension, it’s a matter of pride.)

I know I will still need to pull the manuscript apart again, but this will be during the editing pass. I will also be fact checking and writing a glossary of terms and pronunciation (for the audiobook, yes there should be one! That alone makes my blind heart sing! But no, I won’t be the one reading it. I hate the sound of my own voice.)

Going forward, I’m aiming to update here every 10k or so, and to talk about the publishing process or fun stuff later on.

(I kinda wanna visit the printer and see the book rolling off the machines but it’s too early at this point to plan that far ahead).

So for now, it’s one word after another, then a sentence, then a paragraph, until we hit 80k. But, as of this week, this project will officially—give or take—hit the halfway mark!

Amaze. Amaze. Amaze! (Yep, still watching it,)

Huzzah! But, gods, do I need coffee.

Anyway, until next time!

#SecretBookProject: From Pitch to Publication is a periodic series in which Asha discusses writing their first non-fiction book.

This past week I hit 60k and the sort of halfway point in my manuscript.

Woo hoo. Celebration. Amaze amaze amaze! (Yeah, I keep going to re-watch Project Hail Mary, it helps me work as well as elevating my mood better than meds. That and watching influencers suffer at Coachella, anyway…)

I’ve been working from home a lot more as a friend broke her arm so she needs me to come get her (and her guide hound) for coffee. Honestly the place of writing doesn’t really matter. All I need is coffee, a plug and a decent WiFi connection. But on Monday, I decided to just sit, put on music and YouTube, and hammer out like 4,000 words, which finally put me over the 60k line.

Most people think that 140k (average) is a lot of words. But I’m an academic and a novelist. I panicked at Uni when I had to write a 10k dissertation, then I started writing professionally (I started writing bad 150k novels in my teens…) as a journalist and, well, two more dissertations of 15k later, word count no longer phases me.

Yes, it is a lot, but I’ve been very transparent and sharing my word counts as we go. Not to show off, but to motivate myself and be accountable. I’m goot but even then this is a BIG project and I know that I'll be judged by this first book. So, if it goes well, then I hope options for future projects and that, being able to spend six months hyperfixating on Topic X, Film Y or Game Z, is absolutely priceless.

And, yes, I have a couple of ideas I’m sketching out, just for my personal pleasure at this point. Pitching comes later, once this book is in bed.

But now, while I’m still feeling out the various chapters, things are almost at the shaggy dough stage. For non-bakers, this is the point where you’re making dough, like pastry or bread, and it’s like sand, a minute or more of work and it will become a lovely mass ready to rest before you divide and bake it.

(What? I like baking…)

My next task is to find the ‘hole’ in my manuscript. This is bascially a narrative black hole that only appears when you’ve covered all the main topics within your subject. Like a black hole, you can only see it later in the process when you’ve written maybe 85% of the content, or planned out most of the chapters.

Of course, aside from this project, I’m still freelancing, doing manga scripts, pitching ideas to magazines and websites, chasing interviews and writing articles, putting out feelers for consulting or other work. Oh and looking for a job locally, because I have an elderly (but mighty) cat who needs regular meds and blood tests

I was hoping to do MCM Expo next month but I really wanna focus on getting this done. I’m still aiming to get the manuscript finished early (to account for other work, the possibility of a job that I hope will materialise, and things I can’t yet predict…) But, worse case, it goes in early and I can start thinking about #SecretBookProject 2, because like every other AuDHDer I’m always thinking two projects ahead.

Oh and, once the project is accepted and accounced, I will be renaming this section and adding in some really detailed BTS notes that are sitting in my Substack draft pile. Think of it like my research notes, so you can see my process and how I went from the pitch to finishing the first draft.

I need more coffee…

Until next time!

#SecretBookProject: From Pitch to Publication is a periodic series in which Asha discusses writing their first non-fiction book.

There comes. point around a third of the way into any big project when I need to stop, take a minute (and a coffee) and spend a day pulling what I’ve written and putting it back together.

I’m at just shy of 50k and we’ve officially reached that point.

I knew this was coming. It’s actually a part of my process when it comes to non-fiction. The same thing happened with both of my dissertations (which you can read here…). But it’s one of those times when I wish I could use my chosen table (which is huge and marble BTW, so it’s the perfect spot for me to watch movies while I work), print out a load of pages and then cut and paste them together.

I can’t, printing costs a fortune… Also, there’s the whole ‘I can’t see’ thing too…

But the words are coming. Writing non-fiction is harder (but still fun) because for every hundred words I write, there are two hundred and fifty you don’t see of research, notes, thoughts and random scriblings at 3am in the morning…

(Always keep something for notes by your bed, folks…)

I’m trying to write around 2k a day, just to be comfortable.

I’ve adjusted my timeframe a tad, just to get things done earlier and leave me longer for editing (and freelance work). Basically, my editing pass is pulling the manuscript apart again, where needed. Basically fixing the final tone and flow of the text and finalising the chapter headings (for that snap and alliteration). Honestly, doing this with access to the internet is just so nice (remember, I wrote my first dissertation in 2001-2, before the internet as it is now, you know, on dial up.... There were books, so many books! Also, Wikipedia started in 2001, but didn’t hit my radar properly until 2005.)

In keeping with my AuDHDer brain, I’m jumping from chapter to chapter as my desires manifest. As I have thoughts I want to write on even as I’m still playing with the structure as I go, whilst still keeping to my original book proposal.

So, right now, it’s one sentence after the other, one paragraph here, another there. I’m plodding along without much to report. The fun stuff, that comes after the manuscript goes to my editor and the publisher. Once they announce it, then you get the juicy stuff.

So thanks for hanging in there with me, in my vagueness!

#SecretBookProject: From Pitch to Publication is a periodic series in which Asha discusses writing their first non-fiction book.

So I wanted to talk about my #SecretBookProject (Yes, this is a temporary slug… No, it’s not a reveal yet… Sorry.)

I’ve done three degrees in my time (one undergrad, two Masters…) but I’ve never written a book before. At least not a non-fiction one. And yet, somehow, I have a file in my brain marked ‘How to Write a Winning Book Proposal’.

So, over Festivus, that’s what I did. I sent it on a Friday. Got the okay the following Monday and signed the contact on the Tuesday. Guess what I started on Wednesday?

Anyway, so now I have a lot of words to write and I wanted to document the process for my own edification and to help others following behind me.

So here are the basics, as I see them.

• Use your local library, especially if it’s a university. Comfort and quiet while you work are important.

I live close to the University of East Anglia. It’s a 45-minute bus ride and my alma mater (I did my most recent Master’s in Interdisciplinary Japanese Studies there). I also used the library as extensively as I could during COVID as an OU Student via Visiting Academic status, which gave me library and building access out of hours.

So, for the princely sum of £10, I got myself an Access card which means I can rock up twice a week at 7:30am to get one of the Good Sofas by the windows. I literally spend the whole day there, using the wifi to do some hard research, and dip into the stacks.

I use my iPad to binge-watch a series like I, Claudius or Shōgun and take lunch with me. The sofas are super-comfy and close to the water station (RIP the coffee nook). There’s security, so it’s safe to leave your stuff and do a coffee dash or go to the loo, as well as ease of access to the stacks.

As an alumnus of SISJAC, specifically, I also have access to the Lisa Sainsbury Library at The Close. This does involve a tad more work but if I email the librarian, Hirano-san, he’ll get any books I need.

Use your academic libraries folks!!! They are a treasure.

• Accountability and Project Planning

I don’t like to use AI but it does come in handy for project planning.

I fed it my dates, along with my anticipated word count and it spat out what I needed to write to hit my due date in August. On top of that, I post weekly examples of my word counts.

This is what it gave me:

Target manuscript length: 115-135,000 words.

Start on Monday 12th January 2026.

Writing complete by Friday 10th July 2026.

Editing: 11th July – 31st July 2026.

Delivery: Friday 31st July 2026.

• Intro + first 8 chapters: 2 weeks each

• Shorter late chapters: 1 week each

• Built-in buffers for editing.

So, thanks to ChatGPT, the plan is to write a chapter every fortnight. Of course, I’m not the type to start at A and end at Z, so I’m using Scrivener, my go-to for all forms of writing, to keep everything in place until I need to export the final manuscript to Word.

Scrivener also allows me to have the book proposal mapped into files within my project, which means I can write whatever I want as I hyper-fixate. I also have a Catch All folder where I just write whatever I want, to put together as chapter files later on.

My overall work plan is basically:

Monday: Gym, admin, non-book stuff, freelance chasing….

Tuesday: UEA library day (7:30am-3pm) or work in Norwich day.

Wednesday: Gym, freelance and editing work.

Thursday: UEA library day (7:30am-3pm) or work in Norwich day. TTL every third Thursday which I can attend virtually or in-person.

Friday: Gym, a movie, admin, grocery shopping.

Saturday: Substack prep, gym, freelancing or editing work. Gaming for fun or work.

Sunday: Lie in. Gaming for enjoyment. Costa for coffee and diary prep for the following week. Accountability day for my manuscript. Set Substack posts across the week.

The point is, my dissertation taught me one thing: Start early, plan, and then plan for reality, which will always get in the way.

• Note-taking and Photography

Can I just say how much I love living in 2026 (World War III aside…)

I did my first dissertation back in 2002. All we had were books. Books that you had to find, request or buy from the US….

Now everything I need is online, everything…

Need to check a definition, ask Google. Need to take a look at a specialist catalogue, hit a museum’s website and look at all the high-res assets. Need to talk to an academic, hello email.

I do still use a pen and notebook to, well, take notes. These little A6 Pocket Bullet Journal notebooks are my current go-to…They’re small, allow me to write in an A5 space and I can scrawl all over them without having to worry about the binding because these suckers are well-made…

I have a phone but there’s something cathartic about scribbling notes, from plans on formatting, like sidebars and whatnot to reminding myself of a source.

I also use photography a lot. If I see something, I’ll take a photo of the page, along with the book details. Unlike a dissertatio,n I don’t need to cite my sources but I’m still keeping notes of what, where and why.

• Hydration and Snacks

I take lunch with me if I’m spending the day in the library, along with my coffee mug (RIP Nesspresso mug, hello Kangzy mugs!) and water bottle. The UEA is cheap, food-wise, but I’m not a big fan of their lunch service, even if it is cheap.

If I’m working in a coffee shop, or my favourite pub, then I might buy a pint here and there. The point is, headphones are my other most important possession.

The good thing about working in Norwich is that it’s easy enough to grab food or get groceries after work, on the way home. The UEA also has a little shop and plenty of options for coffee and food and there’s always a chance of running into Sylvester there or Budge while qt SISJAC.

• Research and Personal Archives

So one of the reasons I pitched this book was that it falls into my area of specialisation. I’m the only person who can write this book ansd I have the academic and writing chops to do it. Fortunately, it’s not so much research but I can find whatever I need using the internet, which is nice.

The good thing about being an academic with a focus in the humanities is that you get a nice range for study, from history to social conventions to religion to history and myth. However, studying at SISJAC also taught me the academic skill ‘reading’.

Academic superpower activated!!

This isn’t literal reading; rather, it’s being presented with an artefact from your chosen area of expertise (so for me this would be Greece, Rome, Ptolemaic Egypt, or Japan) and being able to break down what the item is. Eugenia took us to the Sainsbury Centre on campus and I got to do this gorgeous partial piece of the bodhisattva Kannon. We also did this exercise later on and I got examine this amazing thanka while at the British Museum.

Similarly, another task was that we were given a subject to research and compile a source list of. I lucked out in this exercise as the term we were given was shinbutsu bunri (神仏分離), a four-kamji idiom relating to the separation of religious practises in Japan, in particular relating to the banning of Buddhism in the Meiji period and the violent separation of Buddhist and Shintō practices. The pint is once you learn a skill like this researching becomes a game and very fun especially as lot with modern cloud encyclopedia s like Wikipedia which covers a massive proportion of human knowledge. It’s glorious, a vast ocean to swim through.

That said, I do use books and I have a personal archive for this reason, of both physical and digital texts. This was something I learned at the UEA (thanks to my personal tutor, Eugenia!), crafting a curated library of texts, links and websites that you use when writing academic articles and dissertations.

For me, an archive also includes:

• Anime and manga series.

• Wiki as well as specialist online encyclopaedias.

• Academic sites like ResearchGate.

• Reddit.

• Printed strategy guides or books published around the subject in question (for example, for my dissertation, this included published storyboards and Visual Guides.)

• My gaming catalogue, as well as the ability to capture video and screenshots for reference.

• YouTube for playthroughs, ambience etc…

• Digital artbooks (thanks to BookWalker and a VPN).

• Photographs and field notes, journal notes, from trips abroad.

This project is not my dissertation, or even related to anything I’ve written in the past. Still, I’ve sat in various classes and lectures during my time at the UEA, as well as my personal areas of interest. It’s rare time where everything just aligns this perfectly.

(Feel free to guess in the comments!)

I will eventually be publishing a full series called ‘#SecretBookProject: From Pitch to Publication,’ but, for now, this will do, I think. If you’d like to follow on, please subscribe by clicking below and feel free to help with the caffeine IV I’m gonna need for the next six months.

#SecretBookProject: From Pitch to Publication is a periodic series in which Asha discusses writing their first non-fiction book.