oh frabjous day!
It's warm! Not just a hint of warmth, but WARM!! Temps in the high-70s to mid-80s, depending on where in town you are. And tomorrow's supposed to be much the same!!!! My muscles have stopped clenching against the cold and I can't help but feel wonderful.
Odd, considering it turns out a large part of my setting for the trunk novel has gone up in flames, literally. I could have sworn that some reference book identified John Ringo as staying at The Grand when he returned to Tombstone on July 2, 1882. All I can think of is it's either the conspiracy theorist assuming things, or one of the two primary biographers who screwed up because that's where he usually stayed.
I'd come across a reference in a series of articles written for a San Diego paper at the time, that as of late July, there still were no hotels after the May 26th fire. So how could John have stayed at the Grand? Got confirmation that there were no hotels from one of the primary researchers of the area. And I spent today looking at actual historical documents aka 35mm film of the Tombstone Epitaph for those dates. Yup, no hotels at ALL. There's a reference in mid-July that if it had been known that Brown's wasn't going to be rebuilt another person might have built a hotel. (The town lost their three best hotels: the Cosmopolitan, the Grand, and Brown's to the fire.)
So ... the setting for the first third of the book doesn't exist. Can't have my heroine staying in a hotel. This changes everything. My choices are to change the dates of the novel, which I really don't want to do since I want that conversation between my heroine and John Ringo during that week he was in town before he headed east and died. (East as in 40-50 miles, not Back East.) It matters to the character. Or I change the location of the story from San Pedro Valley to perhaps Sulphur Springs? But ....
Now I know why the gods had me moving slowly on this. Historical accuracy is my #1 priority after good writing, so I need to change the story. And it's a novel. With the first third different, all the rest has to change too. At least my first chapter is still good. :-) And my characters stay pretty much the same. ACK!
Given the gorgeous day, however, that is definitely an ACK! not an AIEEE! It's a fascinating challenge, figuring out how to do what I want, given the constraints of reality at the time. Okay, it's fun. And somehow, the warm weather and longer days means it's research season again. Frabjous day! A challenge!
Odd, considering it turns out a large part of my setting for the trunk novel has gone up in flames, literally. I could have sworn that some reference book identified John Ringo as staying at The Grand when he returned to Tombstone on July 2, 1882. All I can think of is it's either the conspiracy theorist assuming things, or one of the two primary biographers who screwed up because that's where he usually stayed.
I'd come across a reference in a series of articles written for a San Diego paper at the time, that as of late July, there still were no hotels after the May 26th fire. So how could John have stayed at the Grand? Got confirmation that there were no hotels from one of the primary researchers of the area. And I spent today looking at actual historical documents aka 35mm film of the Tombstone Epitaph for those dates. Yup, no hotels at ALL. There's a reference in mid-July that if it had been known that Brown's wasn't going to be rebuilt another person might have built a hotel. (The town lost their three best hotels: the Cosmopolitan, the Grand, and Brown's to the fire.)
So ... the setting for the first third of the book doesn't exist. Can't have my heroine staying in a hotel. This changes everything. My choices are to change the dates of the novel, which I really don't want to do since I want that conversation between my heroine and John Ringo during that week he was in town before he headed east and died. (East as in 40-50 miles, not Back East.) It matters to the character. Or I change the location of the story from San Pedro Valley to perhaps Sulphur Springs? But ....
Now I know why the gods had me moving slowly on this. Historical accuracy is my #1 priority after good writing, so I need to change the story. And it's a novel. With the first third different, all the rest has to change too. At least my first chapter is still good. :-) And my characters stay pretty much the same. ACK!
Given the gorgeous day, however, that is definitely an ACK! not an AIEEE! It's a fascinating challenge, figuring out how to do what I want, given the constraints of reality at the time. Okay, it's fun. And somehow, the warm weather and longer days means it's research season again. Frabjous day! A challenge!