Working on a novel and I wanted to indicate that a Manhattan restaurant had a price point of medium-high boogie. I settled on $49.68 as the cost of their average entrée.

But a paragraph later, I realized that inflation could soon make that figure meaningless. In a year, who knows, $49.68 might get you one Chalupa Supreme.

So I revised to say that the average tab for dinner was a public school teacher’s bi-monthly salary. The one thing I’m quite confident in this economy is that U.S. teachers will remain relatively poor. (Three cheers for capitalism?)

If inflation has impacted your creative writing, please share how!