The sharks would have their hands around her

Here's today's progress on my 19th century D.C. spy caper about a powerful Difference Engine that will end the Civil War - now with warhawk conspiracies, clockwork assassins, two presidents with more in common than they know, three disgraced spies with less in common than they think, and a Bonus! not-at-all mad scientist who can save the world if someone will just give him a chance:
Project: Fiddlehead
Deadline: September 15, 2012
New words written: 3297 (not bad)
Present total word count: 13,645 words





Things accomplished in fiction: Wrapped up Chapter Two, started Chapter Three. Brought back Belle Boyd, by popular request. She's getting another weird assignment [see Clementine] and this one's a doozy...

Things accomplished in real life: Email chat with agent; phone call with Mom; a little bit of business online; staked up and tidied up half a dozen "volunteer" tomato plants that have somehow survived despite my wholesale neglect of the garden since we moved here; printed out/sorted out all my stuff for ConTemporal travel come Thursday; took a scrub brush to the un-restored mantle tiles in advance of a hypothetical restoration job; ordered some curtains for the guest room; filled in some minor drywall holes with vinyl/plaster sealant and did touch-up painting; and that's about it.