Research

I used to tell my friend who wrote historical sagas that even though I love to read historical's I would never write one because I didn't want to do all the research involved. That's why I chose to write contemporary stories. Now I am eating humble pie.

Why? I look around my office (and yes, I am fortunate to have one in my home) and what do I see? I have shelves of reference books...all kinds from a thesaurus (I know I can use the one on Word 10 but sometimes I can't find the word I'm looking for) to a standard dictionary, books on emotions, phrases, atlas, travel and the best one I've ever read, Stephen King's On Writing.

Oh before I forget, one of my favorites is Father John's Bathroom Reader.  Amazing the information available in those tomes.

So I have to guess on of the best perks about writing is you are always learning.