Weekend in New England

And Sanjaya is still on American Idol. Sigh! I feel like Henry II when he declared about Thomas a Becket "Will no one rid me of this man?" Not that I want four men to kill Sanjaya while he's doing his hair, but please, for the love of Idol, vote this dude off!

Now back to our regularly scheduled program. Isn't he cute, the dude on the left? That's Logan Marshall-Green, who played Ryan's no-good brother Trey on the O.C. He was also the inspiration for the bad boy character in my new YA, which has no title yet. I haven't written a bad boy character yet, and I'm really excited about it. Dylan, on the surface, seems like the quintessential bad boy, but of course, he has the proverbial heart of gold. And sexy to boot.

I'm off to New England this weekend, hence the reference to the old Barry Manilow song. It's the NEC conference which I'm looking forward to for 2 reasons, I'll get to see my friends, and I won't have to be at work. Pysched for that. I'm not pitching this year, because my new YA is only 70 pages, plus I've already pitched my last two books to the agents who are attending.

Right now, I'm struggling with the issue of historical accuracy. I have a character in my new YA who is from the 11th century, where they didn't speak English the way we do now, plus he's Scottish, means he wouldn't even have spoken English at all but Gaelic or some form of Scots. So I'm having to decide whether or not to do the old trick of having him learn English from watching Oprah and the daytime soaps. Plus, can he read? He's a nobleman, so I'm going to say that yes he has learned the rudiments of reading and writing his name, not just making a big old X on parchment.

Plus were they wearing the plaid in the 11th century? In Braveheart, they did but that's two centuries after my character lived. So I'm going to have to go with Jessica assuming that this character should be wearing it, and disappointed when she learns that it came later. Which could lead to a fun scene where she takes him shopping for a kilt, and he wonders why she wants him to wear woman's clothing. Or her having to explain the whole notion of tartans and clans.

So many things to decide. I've written the first three chapters which I need to edit and condense, and I'm doing the research as I write, instead of beforehand, just because I have a tendency to get bogged down by those things, and I love to research so much that I would spend all my time doing it and not writing. Which as we know is bad if your goal is to one day see your name on a book.

So, there will be no posts here until Sunday.

Slainte!

EKM