This is part of the Bittersweet Book Launch case study, where Dan Blank and Miranda Beverly-Whittemore share the yearlong process of launching her novel. You can view all posts here.
by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore
My final final FINAL draft of Bittersweet is due to Crown on August 1st. After reading my most recent revision aloud, I had a few major changes I wanted to make and lots of little nit-picky ones. I just spent the last day and a half going through the manuscript with a fine-toothed comb (why are all these lice metaphors coming up?), and just spent the better part of the day organizing an excel spreadsheet so I can make these changes methodically. This task seemed totally humorless, that is until I finally assembled all the factual assertions, big and small, that I’d like to re-authenticate before they go into a book with my name on it. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the many ridiculous things I now need to research on the internet:
| make sure I have yawls and catches right |
| when was Fallujah? Did Jackson fight there? |
| did the Marines fight in Fallujah? |
| do walnuts = anaphalactic shock? |
| 11/61 LIFE, 1987 LLBEAN, 1972 Town & Country |
| Historical accuracy of Agnes’s surgeon stuff |
| How far is 20 meters? Right for a swimming dock? |
| Boston Whalers really loud? |
| back of the yacht = stern? |
| Bankruptcy papers- historical accuracy |
| cliff a hundred feet above the water? Would that kill him? |
| how far is 10 yards? Are we measuring in meters or yards? |
| When did the Humane Society start isuing calendars? |
| Could they even get a marriage certificate? |
| when is the sunrise in late July 2010? |
| tongue lolling- consistent with strangulation? |
| how far John fell- 100 feet? |
| “thwart” |
| Moon calendar- a sliver of moon in the first week of august 2010? |
| what road are they on?/ New Hampshire town- still in NH? |
| size of the van Gogh (3 feet long/ two feet high) |
| What would the document that names the heirs be called- a constitution? |
| solitary herons not a problem, are they? |