The last couple of days, I’ve been working on pesky wee details about the book. Like whether it’s in British-English or American-English. At the moment it’s mid-Atlantic. Half and half. I live considerably to the left of the Atlantic and write for a slew of US outlets, so writing in US English makes sense. But I was brought up just a few miles from that ocean’s eastern hem and each time I drop a “u” or switch an “s” for a “zed”, I have a flashback to Mrs Higgins’ fifth year English class and flinch slightly as I type in each traitorous character. So I am still undecided on this one. Maybe I’ll track down Mrs H and ask for her permission.
I did decide, finally, how many chapters the book has. And what they’re called. I changed it up, chopped up a couple, crossed out some that made me look even more like an idiot than some of the other and put a different intro in. And I think I like it. Seems sensible to start a book called “The Scottish Ambassador” with a chapter that talks about snail racing, heifer dung and what provoked the book’s title .
In case you care, here’s the new line-up and where each chapter is set.
- The Scottish Ambassador, Portland, Oregon
- Additional Badgers, Salem and Oregon City, Oregon
- Cloaked in Time, Gresham and Portland, Oregon
- The Scottish Way, Chicago, Illinois
- Hark, the Pies are Calling, Memphis, Tennessee
- Hellhole of the Pacific, Aberdeen, Washington
- Far Off in Sunlit Places, Honolulu and Kailua, Hawaii
- Banquet of Consequences, Davie, Treasure Island and Dunedin, Florida
- Gaelic Without Groans, Fort Worth, Texas
- First Dogs, Savannah and Warm Springs, Georgia
- Land of my High Endeavor, Las Vegas, Nevada
- Tilted Kilts, Apache Junction and Tempe, Arizona
- Bloody Brigadoon, New York, New York
- Wrestling Nessie, Williamsburg and Scotland, Virginia
- Land of my Heart Forever, Gatlinburg, Tennessee
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