How Apparently Dead's Going

I changed the sequence of several scenes in the beginning of House of the Apparently Dead because I realized doing so would quicken the pace. I cut out some mini-scenes because changing the sequence made the mini-scenes unnecessary. It changed the order in which the reader learns about Anika's "affliction" and the epidemic that drove people from the Low Country to Charleston. I rewrote several things such as the location of the market to bring them in line with where they really would be in Charleston, according to Alphonso Brown's A Gullah Guide to Charleston. I wrote a kitchen scene. The kitchen house at the Walter Chatham house is where servants discuss what's going on. It's a way to check their reactions to the growing threat. It's a way to record the passing of events in the background that evidence growing mayhem. So I wrote one that includes the entire house staff and managed to cover some good ground, even injecting some humor. It's not genius, but it's pretty good. I'll go back and improve it tonight after work. I need to fit in Anika finding Risa at the market before Charlotte's celebratory dinner. Probably need to write a Julian Point-of-View (POV) scene where he has to answer uncomfortable questions from the mayor about the rising evidence that Apparent Death has stricken Charleston (in direct defiance of Julian's reassurance that Low Country refugees did not bring contagion when allowed asylum in the city). I dunno. Answering uncomfortable questions isn't very suspenseful, is it? Sometimes this plot feels like water running out of my cupped hands through my fingers. Writing is daunting. If you write, you know what I mean. I spent the rest of the weekend researching and tabulating info on publishing & marketing. That was not half as scary as facing a blank page in Word.