Milestones off the Starboard Bow, Cap'n! And some weirdness...

So the Wave O' Wangst has passed, and the words are coming fast and furious now. Behind Closed Doors has passed 50,000 words, which I am guessing is the halfway mark. It could end up breaking 100,000 though, so who knows, but hey, it's 50K. It's a milestone, and it's good enough for me.

Speaking of milestones, I'm creeping up on 750,000 words for 2009. I plan to hit that milestone and leave it in the dust tomorrow. Look out, 1 million: I'm about to make you mah bitch.

In other news, I have actually managed to completely squick myself out with one of my own characters. He's a minor character, but he's a sleazy, slimy, icky guy, and his chapters make my skin crawl. It's subtle, but it's there, and...eww. So, Behind Closed Doors officially has the dubious honor of containing my grossest character ever. What exactly does he do? Well, you'll just have to wait and see.

But that's not the weirdness mentioned in the title of this blog entry. That weirdness relates to some of the things I've had to research for my books.

As my loyal blog minions are well aware, my writing typically falls between "romance" and "erotica" on the genre spectrum. They're all contemporary, usually set in Seattle (whether I come out and say it or not), though Behind Closed Doors is set in Norfolk. So, my setting and time periods are relatively mundane. Nothing terribly exciting.

That said, I strive for accuracy. Sometimes I have to google this or that, or do a quick drive-by on Wikipedia to fact-check something that my characters do, or someplace they go, or what have you. This, in and of itself, is also not that exciting. What gets amusing, though, is when I compile a list of the things I've had to research/fact-check in order to complete my various romance novels.

This strange list of "hmm, better make sure this is accurate" things includes:

• Hiking trails on Maui
• Driving time from Norfolk, VA to Savannah, GA
• Whether or not alligators are nocturnal
• If it's possible to apply a tattoo to oneself
• Chess strategies
• How to suture a cut on someone's arm
• Removing and installing a bathroom mirror
• How to do a handstand push-up
• Billiards strategies
• Educational requirements for college professors, biochemists, surgeons, and personal trainers
  
• How to play a bass guitar
• German words and phrases, particularly of the obscene and insulting variety
• How much blood someone could lose before losing consciousness
• How far someone could drive while losing a lot of blood before crashing
• How badly a person would get hurt if someone smashed various pieces of kitchenware over his neck and shoulder (from bottles to large china serving plates)
  
• Sexual harassment protocols in corporate America
  
• All about the amphitheatre at Epidaurus
• Deafness/hearing impairment
• Muay Thai, kickboxing, and boxing

So much for writing "just smut"...