The dreaded research

I am in research mode and it is not fun. It is one of those necessary evils of writing. I write romance/fantasy books that are set in historical times. They aren't true to history, but they still need to be historically correct when it comes to people and places. I also write about ancient history, which is even more of a challenge because there are holes in most of the history and experts disagree on timelines and such things. So what does a person do? I read different books on the same subject to get a middle ground on the information. I also read books that are recommended by experts. Amazon.com is a great place to find out about a book before buying it because there is a wealth of information in the customer comments. I buy most of my books because I live in a small town that doesn't have a huge ancient history section. I also conduct research online as well.

Now what to do with all the information that will soon leave my brain? I discovered that if I take some notes while I am reading a book, it helps my brain to retain the information. The only problem with that is I have been writing my notes in whatever notebook happens to be nearby at the time. Bad idea! I can't find what I am looking for. So now I am in the process of typing the notes into the computer and organizing them into categories. I should have done this in the beginning. I am slapping myself right now for being stupid.

Always a Metal Maiden

Long before I started writing books, I played bass and wrote songs in an all female band called Driven Steel. We played in Orange County, CA, L.A. and the Inland Empire in the late 80's to mid 90's. Yes, we had the "big hair" going on at first. My husband and I laugh about that because we lived in a small apartment, and ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches so that we could afford to get our hair done. He was also (still is) a musician, but his "big hair" is long gone. We had our priorities straight--the hair came first when you played in a heavy metal band back then.

Anyway, back to my story. Driven Steel was my life for many years and we played with aggressive passion. We proved that chicks could rock just as hard (and better) than the guys. Though it ended in a bitter cloud, I wouldn't change a thing. It was an awesome experience for me.

It was unfortunate that we broke up, but this was a huge turning point in my life. It turned out that writing lyrics and music would one day lead me to writing books. My roots are in Driven Steel and will always be a part of me--the metal maiden to my fiction chick.

Metal Maidens is an e-zine based in Holland that was and still is a huge supporter of Driven Steel. They recently interviewed us, and it was a pleasure to travel back to the past and reminisce about the good times. The link to this interview is http://www.metalmaidens.com/drivensteelint.htm

Rock on!