Today was the first day this year in which I didn't leave my apartment building at all (this is a true statement: I verified with a combo of my calendar + my blog). So my reputation as a hermit may be of long standing, given that in the past I have been a hermit - but clearly I am failing in my hermity ways at the moment.
However, even though I didn't leave my apartment building, I did spend most of the day outside, and it was *glorious*. It was gorgeous in SF - one of those rare warm, sunny days with minimal wind, when living in a building with a pool is actually useful. So I woke up, messed around, ate some breakfast, put on a swimsuit and sunscreen, and then laid out by the pool from eleven to three. I spent the first hour plotting and scheming, and then I took a brief nap. Then I ran back into my apartment to make some iced coffee, and then I spent a couple of hours rereading part of a book called 'Courtesans: Money, Sex, and Fame in the Nineteenth Century'. I read it several years ago when I was researching Ellie and Nick's story, even though Ellie wasn't really a courtesan (she was a widow, which is a totally different ballgame). But Octavia technically is a courtesan, and I was in the mood to reread parts of it to get into the proper frame of mind. The history of all of that stuff is fascinating...but I shall spare you the details, since you don't care and I need to go to bed anyway.
By 3pm, the sun had disappeared from my side of the pool, so I came upstairs, took care of a couple of things, and then sat on my terrace and soaked up some more sun while talking to my parents. They were their usual selves, but my dad's one attempt at an inappropriate joke was blocked out by a fortuitous signal loss, so that was great.
Then, I probably should have written Rafe and Octavia....but the sun was still so lovely, in a way that I probably won't get again for awhile, and I was feeling contemplative about my spinster honeymoon project. So I poured a glass of rosé and sat on the terrace until sometime after six, and I wrote three pages of notes for that project. It's weird to be contemplating something new - I have no idea who the characters are, or how to structure it, or what the story is. But I have a lot of snippets of dialogue and scene and feeling, and I'll have to trust, at some point, that there will be a book there.
At that point, I really should have written Rafe and Octavia...but I decided to give in fully to my spinster honeymoon desires instead. So I ate the last bits of my leftover pasta, poured another glass of rosé, and watched 'Trainwreck' instead. It is definitely research for Spinster Honeymoon (and I shall write it off on my taxes, I assure you) - I thought the pacing was just a bit uneven, and there was way more LeBron James than I had realized there would be. But it was funny and heartfelt and an interesting play on some familiar tropes, and I enjoyed it quite a bit.
But my day in the sun + my day as a hermit has come to an end, and I must go to bed so that I can pursue my plan of getting up early and attempting to reform my habits starting tomorrow morning. I only have a few hours to write before I must go to the south bay for other activities, so I need to make it happen. Goodnight!
However, even though I didn't leave my apartment building, I did spend most of the day outside, and it was *glorious*. It was gorgeous in SF - one of those rare warm, sunny days with minimal wind, when living in a building with a pool is actually useful. So I woke up, messed around, ate some breakfast, put on a swimsuit and sunscreen, and then laid out by the pool from eleven to three. I spent the first hour plotting and scheming, and then I took a brief nap. Then I ran back into my apartment to make some iced coffee, and then I spent a couple of hours rereading part of a book called 'Courtesans: Money, Sex, and Fame in the Nineteenth Century'. I read it several years ago when I was researching Ellie and Nick's story, even though Ellie wasn't really a courtesan (she was a widow, which is a totally different ballgame). But Octavia technically is a courtesan, and I was in the mood to reread parts of it to get into the proper frame of mind. The history of all of that stuff is fascinating...but I shall spare you the details, since you don't care and I need to go to bed anyway.
By 3pm, the sun had disappeared from my side of the pool, so I came upstairs, took care of a couple of things, and then sat on my terrace and soaked up some more sun while talking to my parents. They were their usual selves, but my dad's one attempt at an inappropriate joke was blocked out by a fortuitous signal loss, so that was great.
Then, I probably should have written Rafe and Octavia....but the sun was still so lovely, in a way that I probably won't get again for awhile, and I was feeling contemplative about my spinster honeymoon project. So I poured a glass of rosé and sat on the terrace until sometime after six, and I wrote three pages of notes for that project. It's weird to be contemplating something new - I have no idea who the characters are, or how to structure it, or what the story is. But I have a lot of snippets of dialogue and scene and feeling, and I'll have to trust, at some point, that there will be a book there.
At that point, I really should have written Rafe and Octavia...but I decided to give in fully to my spinster honeymoon desires instead. So I ate the last bits of my leftover pasta, poured another glass of rosé, and watched 'Trainwreck' instead. It is definitely research for Spinster Honeymoon (and I shall write it off on my taxes, I assure you) - I thought the pacing was just a bit uneven, and there was way more LeBron James than I had realized there would be. But it was funny and heartfelt and an interesting play on some familiar tropes, and I enjoyed it quite a bit.
But my day in the sun + my day as a hermit has come to an end, and I must go to bed so that I can pursue my plan of getting up early and attempting to reform my habits starting tomorrow morning. I only have a few hours to write before I must go to the south bay for other activities, so I need to make it happen. Goodnight!
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