A Novel is Born
Dear friends,
Years ago, I sat outside a tea shop in Seattle and almost tipped my chair backwards down a short flight of concrete stairs. Tony—my new husband!—and I gaped at each other and laughed; I was giddy as the server brought a double-walled glass teapot of oolong to the table, along with a short wire rack and a small tea candle (what a fitting name!) which the server slid beneath to keep the tea warm. Around us, a mix of sunshine and mist, bright flowers, and a million shades of green. Rust-red cranes slanted upwards like gazing beasts, plastic panels sectioned construction sites from stained streets. The city hummed with growth, energy flowing down busy streets, settling into cozy spaces.
A what if grew a heartbeat.
Steeped came slowly, percolating in the back of my mind as we walked from one tea shop to another, a place filled with glass containers of loose leaf blends brightened with pink rose petals or curls of dried orange. We walked to a ferry boat, drifted across the water and met more sunshine on a little island with a petite sandwich shop and elegant knitting store. I bought buttons there—black with the white outline of a dog, white with a black outline of the same dog— and imagined them for a future child. Now they’re eyes for my daughter’s neon pink bear, knitted with yarn she chose herself.
What if I wrote a love story set in this new-to-me place? Was I allowed to travel in my imagination, could I steep it with the yearning energy I felt as we explored bakeries and pen shops, extravagantly green parks, bunkers buried beneath dripping trees? Was I allowed to toe up to this imagined line in my mind, writer, and just go for it?
What if I took it, and myself, seriously, this glowing idea, and turned it into something real to share, like a steaming cup of tea?
Steeped isn’t my first written book, but it is the first I loved writing, and I hope you’ll feel that pulse in the pages. Our protagonist, Chloe, loves her city, loves tea, and doesn’t yet trust or value her own creative vision. With an over-the-top serious tea-brewing competition (anyone seen Blow Dry??) and a movie star who’s suspiciously nice and flawed in all the right ways, Steeped is sweet, weird, whimsical, sexy.
From herb to drink; from thought to story. Here to go, from me to you. I hope you enjoy.
Sincerely, Sophie
PS If you read Steeped, please consider rating and reviewing on Amazon and/or Goodreads. This quick step makes a world of difference!
