the owls are not what they seem

I finally got down to writing today, after procrastinating in the morning while trying to decide whether to procrastinate even more by going to Sephora and Crate and Barrel. I ultimately decided against shopping, instead having another delicious panini before going to my now-favorite tea place to work on the book.

The problem with the tea place is that it encourages me to drink a lot of tea in a short period of time, which a) cuts down productivity since it makes me have to go to the bathroom every ten minutes, and b) gives me a caffeine and sugar overdose that takes awhile to come down from. However, I overheard a couple working with one of the staffmembers to plan a private party, and I realized that it would be an awesome place to celebrate the launch of my book if it ever gets published.

Fueled by that happy dream, I spent most of the day and evening on the book, and made pretty good progress. I finally sucked it up and rewrote the opening chapters, which was not a task that I was looking forward to, but now it's done. I'll likely rewrite them again after getting feedback, since I want to make them as engaging as possible because it's those chapters that make or break agent/editor queries, but they're at least in better shape than they were. I also smoothed out the chapter transitions and did some fact-checking/researching for the next two hundred pages, so I'm closing in on the final things to do before asking for readers.

One of the things left is the consummation scene; I got halfway through it last spring, stopped to have dinner with my aunt and her scandalous fiance, and ended up skipping the rest of the scene to keep going with the momentum that I had to finish the book. I thought that wine might help to set the appropriate mood, and I was also in the mood for soup, so I came home from the tea shop, made some French onion soup and opened a half-bottle of pinot noir. The soup turned out well, but I forgot to buy gruyere to put on top, and the monterey jack I had lying around didn't taste quite right. The wine was delicious too, but it made me sleepy rather than ready to write about the sexual escapades of the earl and countess, so I just did other edits instead. Since wine is out, and I don't have any matches to light my mood-setting candles, I suppose I'll just have to write about sex while listening to electronica music tomorrow, and try to remember while Crystal Method is pulsating in the background that glowsticks and ecstasy were not readily available in the Regency period.

I honestly don't know if I can accomplish my goal of finishing the second draft tomorrow, but I need to make a valiant effort, so in the interest of doing that, it's time for bed!