First-hand knowledge

Warning: Boring nattering about writing stuff ahead.

I'm deep into writing the first draft of my YA hiking book. The working title is Shadow Trail, incidentally. I decided I had better write it now, in June, because it's set in June. I don't want to have to second-guess myself later on about what's blooming right now, what the temperature is, how the shadows fall, when it gets light in the mornings, etc. Most of this stuff I already know, but it's easy to make mistakes in the draft that get missed in revisions and edits.

So my characters have hit the trail with zombie-ish bad guys hunting for them. In the book's timeline, they've only been on the trail a few hours. I'm happy with the progress, but I know I need to hit the trail myself to work out their route and make sure the details are correct.

My next day off work won't be until Sunday, so Sunday morning at 9am on the dot I'll be stepping onto the watershed access trail around the corner from my house. I'll need to time myself to make sure the timeline of where the characters are going and when actually makes sense. For instance, one of the first things they do, once they think they're out of danger and safe in the woods, is pick raspberries. Then they go up to Observation Point and realize they're not alone. So that's where I'll go too, watch in hand and notebook in my pack. Hopefully zombies will not chase me.

It's really useful to have set this book in my own stomping grounds. Research is easy and fun!