Day 2 of Writing Retreat

How many days will there be? Well, I’m not sure yet. I have three hanging projects that I’d like to finish up, and I *think* a week or so will take care of that.

I’m stopping back at the house 2-3 times / day — I stopped back yesterday to sign a bunch of copies of Feast, for example, that Stephanie picked up to ship out (and apologies for the delay, folks, it *completely* slipped my mind to check the order sheet for a few weeks, not sure how that happened. Too many balls in the air.)

I actually slept at home last night, and probably will going forward, because I slept really badly here the first night. (Not sure why, the apartment is fine?) This afternoon, I have 4-5 hours of stuff I need to do at the house, sewing masks and baking milk toffee and packing up things to ship (book and curry powder orders, Interstellar Patreon treats). But I’m going to try to at least spend mornings here for the week, I think, keep myself in writing mode.

I also need to stop eating out, or slow it way down, because restaurant food is too rich and heavy; it throws me off having it for multiple meals a day. I went to Delia’s Kitchen for brunch yesterday, and got the salmon eggs benedict (Friday was national Eggs Benedict Day), which were fine, but even though I love smoked salmon, I think I like classic eggs benedict better. Still, novelty in food, always interesting to me. The problem is that two eggs benedict is honestly too much breakfast for me; I need someone to split an order with, because it’s not really something that keeps well for taking home.

The downside of eating at Delia’s was they didn’t have their outside seating open (not sure why), and since I’m very close to fully vaccinated (2 days to full efficacy), I went ahead and ate inside, which is the first time I’ve done so in over a year, and it felt weird and also, honestly, too crowded. It’s not a big place, and I think going there on the weekend for brunch was a mistake; a friend has gone recently on weekdays and had it much more empty.

I don’t think it was particularly dangerous, and the wait staff were masked and very careful about maintaining distance (they’re all eligible for vaccination now, so I hope they’re all getting it), but I think for now, I’m just not comfortable eating with dozens of other people eating in a small space. Not enough airflow for comfort.

Better was walking over to Fairground Coffee — big space, and they have half their seating blocked off, so you really get some good distance and can’t have too many people indoors. They also have lots of outdoor seating. I had my chai latte, and opened my laptop, and opened the file, and started writing, and for a little while, everything felt normal, just like the old days. Normal, yet also safe.

Oh, this pandemic writing life is so weird. More writing specifics in next post.

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