If you need me, I'll be in my OTHER office

Today being a Wednesday, which means no school for our Little Guy and the neighbor's 5-year-old and 1-year-old, and knowing they would be at home with the nanny a good part of the day since it will probably (finally!) rain later, I decided to beat a hasty retreat in order to hopefully get some much-needed work done.

It's a bit of a hike across town for me to come to my "other office", but I love being at my friend Aimee's tea shop, L'Oisive Thé, on rue de la Butte aux Cailles in the 13th. I come early, during the pre-lunch hour, to have a few minutes to chat with my friend while she and her serveuse are doing the daily preparation for lunch and afternoon tea. Coming early means I score a small table in the corner near a window. Good light, a lovely cool breeze, and plenty of room to work (and to drink tea and have some delicious food as well!)

I've visited a few times since the grand opening at the beginning of April: once Georges and I brought the Little Guy here for Sunday brunch, and then a couple of weeks ago I came by with my computer but had problems with my power adaptor and didn't have enough battery life to work, so I had lunch and tea and then had to leave. I've loved watching the little changes Aimee has made to her shop, making it even more charming than it originally was, with her personal little touches like hand-sewn tablecloths, lots of green plants and flowers, and books and magazines to read as well as teas to buy and drink!

Today, though, I'm planning to hang out for a long time, and I've come prepared to work. I desperately need to get some work done. My guilt is palpable, the guilt of knowing clients are waiting for me to deliver things but that I'm having trouble getting myself in gear to do any actual work. As you can see, my writer's block is somewhat selective; writing my own thoughts on my blog is a breeze. It's writing OTHER people's thoughts that requires so much more of my concentration. But then, that's why they pay me the "big (ha) bucks".

I wonder if I'd be this distracted if I wasn't planning a wedding?

Last night I "confessed" (voluntarily) to Georges that lately, when I am claiming I am working, I'm usually not. He being an excellent procrastinator himself (at times), he knows how easy it is to be lured away from the things we need to do by those other things we prefer to do. And since we've met, he's often had the same problems I've had, forcing myself to work when I'd rather just be in our little bubble o' love. We'd rather keep having fun and not have to deal with work. But we're grown-ups, we two, and we have grown-up responsibilities.

So today, I've got a chapter to research and write for one client, and if I get that done and done well, then I move onto editing a first draft manuscript for a second client. Then there's a third client who is waiting on a book proposal. And after that I'm sure there are other things I've promised someone, somewhere.

And now, I work. If you're in the neighborhood today, drop by and say Bonjour and have some of Aimee's homemade cookies or delicious salads, and cup of tea -- of course!