Research

I have a whole new respect for historical fiction writers, especially those who prefer the 1930s. Geez! The other day I found myself looking up the history of ice cream, ice cream sundaes, hot fudge, milkshakes, cars, radios, meals, Little Red Riding Hood, all surmounting to my fifth story which I am desperate to come out in the next couple weeks. Otherwise I've been crunching my time to finish this story THIS WEEK for nothing. Did you know that DC Comics, Inc. wasn't founded until 1934 (four years after my timeline) and Marvel Worldwide, Inc. aka Marvel Comics didn't start until 1939 (you do the math)? And even then it wasn't "Marvel." It was something like Timely Publications or something, went through a name change or two, and it wasn't until, like, the 60s that it actually became Marvel Comics. None of this is crucial to my story, of course, but I did want maybe Ant-Man to be a role model for these kids, but no, Ant-Man didn't appear until 1962, I think. Even G.I. Joes didn't come into play until the 60s. Bottom line: I couldn't find any action figures for these kids to play with or look up to. All they had was reality and books. Granted, a healthy dose of reality is good for a kid to aspire to; I'm just saying it was a real wake-up call. These kids had to depend on their own imagination, something that I think was lost in the generations that followed. When I watch kids, they want to listen to music or watch t.v. or play on a cell phone. Yeah, it's not even a computer anymore. Smartphones are the new computers. The other day I forbid myself to go on Youtube for one whole day. I did it. Felt pretty good. It felt... refreshing. That's not to say I wasn't on my computer, because the whole point was to stay off Youtube so I could get some writing in. Which I did, I'm proud to say.
Crap. I forgot my point. It had something to do with researching ice cream. Oh yeah!
You know I don't think I had to be this careful when I wrote my last story, and that was written in a foreign country before 1920! Perhaps it was because I was so in-tune with the time, character, and country. How sad is that? I'm not even in-tune with my own home.
I really want to get this done. It's hard for me to concentrate on one thing for so long, or maybe my attention-span has shortened. I remember in high school I could spend hours upon hours just writing stories. I wanted to spend the whole day doing it, but I knew I might get tired of it, plus I had other school work to do. Writing was my escape. It got me out of my head for a few hours. Now that it's all I'm doing, I'M the one who needs a healthy dose of reality. Kathryn Miller Haines, author of the Rosie Winter books, said when she writes, it feels like this forbidden thing. She'll be at her day job and a flash of inspiration will hit her. She'll bring up a new window and start writing, even though she's technically on the clock. I guess I'm just hung up on getting this series done, but I'm trying to stay on the positive side. It's almost done (both the story and the series) and then I can move onto something else. In the meantime I'm becoming a master procrastinator.
Anyway, look for my next story, whose title I will think of eventually. In the meantime here's a link to "Tried and Treacherous." It's only $0.99 and a sure pleaser for Russian diehards, fiction-lovers, conspiracy theorists, and Disney addicts. Okay, 50/50 on the Disney thing, but still. Enjoy!
http://www.amazon.com/The-Woman-Scarlet-Treacherous-ebook/dp/B00BC7B9FK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1362272866&sr=8-1&keywords=tried+and+treacherous

Later!

-Grace