Things you don't know you don't know…

So today is the release date for Must Love Hellhounds, an anthology featuring authors that no one has heard of before — like Charlaine Harris, Ilona Andrews, and Nalini Singh — and me. (I bet they all cried for joy when they heard I was participating in it, too. Their reaction on the phone with their agents was probably all “Who… whoooooooooo! Meljean!” Whoo hoo!)

And my awesomeness knows no bounds, really. While I was heading over to Amazon to link to the Hellhounds anthology, I saw two reviews up. So — DAMN MY EYES! — I read them. And one pointed out that an important plot point in my novella couldn’t have happened … because South Carolina doesn’t require front license plates on their cars.

Oops. 😳

The most crazy and frustrating thing about research: You can only look up what you know that you don’t know. I think it was Lydia Joyce who once mentioned that she’d written about one of her characters putting something on a nightstand in her Victorian romance…only to find out afterward that they didn’t use nightstands then. They are just little items that never occur to you to verify when you’re writing, especially if they are things that you take for granted…like front license plates, which are mandatory in every state that you’ve lived in.

Most of the time, all you can do is accept it and move on (or make adjustments with a second printing). It’s a mistake, you own up to it, you do better next time. Unless, of course, you are a paranormal writer. Then you can say: In the Guardian universe, South Carolina does require front license plates. *g*

…and I guess this means my vacation is over. I won’t be posting every day, but probably several times a week (and I will be posting every Friday at Odd Shots.)