Heavy labor

[julian_griffith]

I'm not sure whether I'm referring to the lifting and carrying I did at gehayi 's house, or to the effort it took to get 418 words today.

Project: Julia and Mary (Regency lesbians)

Market: Storm Moon Press, An Improper Arrangement open anthology call

Deadline: June 30, 2013

Required length:8-12K

New words written: 1216 (798 yesterday, 418 today)

Present total wordcount: 11717

Mean things: Measles

Fun things: Toy sailboat on the Serpentine

Stimulants: Homemade blue cheese dressing on my salad, Good Humor birthday cake flavor ice cream bar

No WAY is this story going to be under 12K, but it WILL be in the original 10-20K range. Probably come out around 16-17K is my guess.

Caroline's children have caught the measles, sending Caroline back to Maitland House and requiring Julia and Mary to leave London, which gave a handy reason for Julia to invite Mary to come visit HER instead of going directly home. They took Julia's son to the park so that his nursemaid could pack his things uninterrupted. Julia revealed to Mary that her marriage was in no way a love-match. Mary was not yet bold enough to confess what the deal was with hers.

It's in Julia's POV right now, which is giving me a lot of scope to reveal her inner angst and the rigid self-control she imposes on herself to try to keep from wanting what she believes she'll never have.

I know what I'm writing next, too. Thanks to The Regency Redingote, I learned a terrific little detail about Regency luggage that'll lead to a minor carriage accident, an unplanned stop at an inn, and the ever-popular Enforced Bed Sharing, which will NOT lead to nookie at this point. Just a lot of frustrated desire.

After that there will be one more segment in Mary's POV before we get to the Climactic Kiss, the resulting emotional exchange, and the emotional resolution that finally leads to the nookie.

And I think I'll be ending it with a letter from Julia to Caroline, explaining that Mary will be staying forever. Apparently I can't get away from the trope of bringing a U-Haul on the second date...

But it feels like I know where I'm going, and there are basically five segments left, and one's a sex scene and one's a letter, both of which are typically VERY easy for me.

So I think I can make deadline!

Oh, if you were wondering about the homemade blue cheese dressing, it wasn't exactly complicated. I had blue cheese crumbles around anyway, because I like them on salad, and I stirred some into a little buttermilk, which I always have in my fridge because pancakes, and then I mixed in a little mayonnaise for texture. But it made my salad DELICIOUS.
 

Comments

[julian_griffith]

Filling in the name brackets (Servants. It's always servants. How the hell do I know what they're supposed to be named? They hardly ever say anything beyond "Very good, my lady.") was just a thing I decided I could do while I was re-reading at a skim to get back into continuity, but while I was doing that, the one about The Monk BOTHERED me, so I went & looked up a plot summary (since I'd forgotten so much of it) & that detail struck me as a really amusing one to use.

It's in the scene where they're walking in Hyde Park and discussing the reasons for liking or disliking trashy Gothic novels. Amusing callback to Northanger Abbey (especially since, in my head, Mary looks like Carey Mulligan) plus what I think is good character development.

[kittygamble]

I went back and peeked really quickly and I LOVE it. :D

[julian_griffith]

:D Thank you! I really value your opinion on these things.

And let me tell you how much I love sneaking in little literary references that work fine for people who don't know a damn thing about the source, but should make someone who does crack up. You wouldn't believe how much more I'm getting out of Georgette Heyer now that I know so much more about the period than I did when I was twenty. I see a name of an inn, or a reference to a battle or a scandalous court case or whatever, and I BOUNCE IN MY CHAIR. That woman DID HER RESEARCH.

[kittygamble]

My references might be getting a little obscure - legal/political stuff. BUT I have Lord Howick, the future Earl Grey, in this scene, and I'm working out when I need to set it so that he can be drinking tea. (Yes, THAT Earl Grey. It amuses me.)

[julian_griffith]

Indeed, THAT Earl Grey. That'd amuse the hell out of me too.

Lord Peterborough, IIRC, was also a tea connoisseur. He showed up fussing about tea in Life Mask. Which you should totally read, BTW, because it's awesome.

[kittygamble]

I've decided it works better for him having suspicions about Susie and Percy if he was one of Barbara's guests before and knew Susie. So I'll make him Unnamed Political Guy who was visiting them up north when they heard of Fox's death. At that time he was First Lord of the Admiralty, which suits me perfectly well. I'll work the tea in there, because this scene might work best over port.