So, I had a plot bunny.

There is somewhere, I am sure, a cottage industry for breeding and selling plot bunnies to distracted and unsuspecting writers. One was pawned off on me.

(Okay, I thought of it while driving!)
Anyway, I considered this plot bunny, thought it would make a cute series of contemporary romances, and jotted down notes.

(Awww, I'm so CUTE.)
Thing is, there's a lot of "setting" necessary when thinking of a series. If I were writing fantasy or sci-fi, I'd have to make it all up. Which is HARD, and likely why I don't write fantasy or sci-fi! Right now, it's in a real place (gasp!) and contemporary (gasp!) and so I have sources upon which to call.

Because for me? I can't just say, "My Hero is this kind of fellow, who lives here and has for this frame of time." There has to be a reason for everything, right? Why is he that kind of fellow? Where is here and what kind of home does he have and why? How much does such a home cost? What kind of job does he have that will enable him to live at the level I have decided that he should?

All of this is just getting me in his head, understand. If he's an oral surgeon at the age I want him to be, he would have spent considerable time learning that skill and establishing himself and I don't know if he could have done that WHILE being the person I have envisioned as My Hero in this story.

So I have to give him another means of earning the requisite income, etc..

Does this make any sense?
I am employing Google Maps, this afternoon. And Zillow. And sites for the school district in which he resides (no, he's not a teacher), and the community profile so I have a clue.

At press time, I'm still not all together sure of everything. But I've got a better frame of reference.

And now, I have to do all the same for...My Heroine! (Thankfully, she'll be moving in from out of the area so I don't have to have her roots in the area all mapped out!)

And when I get all this done for this book, I have to slide in the Heroes and Heroines for the other books in the series. And figure out how they will all manage to live and work and have their being in this real place on the map. And decide how each of them will exist in the first book.

It can be stressful. It is enormously engrossing for me. It is what I love to do with my time.

I am blessed to be able to do this with my days. :)