A minor thing, to be sure…but among the very last bits I wanted for the final edit was some fact-checking on actual weather conditions for the time and place (southeastern Massachusetts, April-August 2004, to be precise). I have been going INSANE trying to find archived weather data!! I don’t need a lot of detail–I just wanted basic max-min-precip information, so I would be sure I didn’t say there were unseasonably cold temperatures when the locale was having a heat wave, or have a long scene outdoors when the locale had two and a half inches of rain on that date. I FINALLY found a source for basic weather station records, for free. (I was ready to pay for them!! But I didn’t need to, after all).
Honestly, the stuff that bogs you down! I just hated the idea of writing, say, that it was raining on May 12th, and have a reader think, “hey, Wednesday, May 12, 2004 was my wedding day and I’ll never forget it, it hit 88 degrees that day!” (It did.) And I do have several long outside scenes, which, if was raining, I at least want to say so.
Back to work! Oh…NOAA Record of Climatological Observations, if any other writers are seeking this data, for the U.S. anyway.