Dating

Psyche!

Not that kind of dating. I'm talkin' about slipping pop culture references into your manuscript that yank a reader out of the story because they've become anachronistic. Say, for instance, you're writing a contemporary romance and your character's carrying around a Pet Rock. Duh. Pet Rocks went out before stereo cassettes, right? (Not that I'd read a book in which the heroine EVER owned a Pet Rock, much less carried one around, but you get the idea.)

Yet...the perfect pop culture reference can pull readers in, too. Like if your quintessential chick lit book is set in downtown Manhattan, well then your characters had better hang out at the hip bars, right?

But hip Manhattan bars go in and out of style faster than Britney Spears changes her hair color (that is, when she has ANY hair).

So, speaking of the Britster, she's been on my mind lately because in Fit For Love, I describe a secondary character as a Britney Spears lookalike. Okay first, you have to remember I completed this manuscript--well, let's just say a WHILE ago. At the time, Britney was HOT. Hell, she was still HOT when I submitted a partial of the manuscript to a NY publisher 18 months ago.
Now, not so much, huh? (Although, to her credit, she might be on the rebound.)

Anyway, the point is...if and when that partial gets considered for real, I wonder what reaction the Britney Spears reference will get?

Who'da thunk she'd let me down?