Learning Something New All The Time

I was flipping through Facebook this morning and saw a post by a member of the Nanowrimo group. He was talking about how being a writer means he has had to learn a few different languages as well as some history for different books. His post got me thinking about some of the things I have had to look through and study for my own works. The most recent was learning about photography which is a passion for Jasmine Byers of both Survivor and Sharing Strength. I have friends that are photographers but I never learned more than the basic point and shoot part.

Now as I am going through the files for all of my upcoming projects, and wishing to God I was better at doing series, I am noticing how many will involve research of new topics. Some of my lessons will be cursory, just a simple look through to make sure speech patterns  are correct or have a few specifics to mention about a hobby. Others will require dedicated library time and note taking as though I was back in high school preparing a report.

Because I am a procrastinator as well as a highly developed A.D.H.D. candidate I am pulling away slightly from these particular projects. I love to learn new things but I know that I will begin my research and go off on some interesting side tangent forgetting all about relevant information for my books. Two in particular I can see it happening with. They are both being set in a city north of me back during the peak of mining here in the Silver State. I already know I am going to need to know the layout of the city, historical information about the town as well as specific buildings and laws from that time period, general history of the west during that era and learn about mining. That is just what I have come up with already for two books and my list of stories is nearly thirty long.

I am excited to dive in to all of these books and in a way it is like going back to school while getting to choose just the subjects I want to study. At the same time it can be overwhelming so I am trying to map out all of the books and have a way to writing them that will keep me interested by varying my focus while also keeping me on track to use the information I gain through research. Once I have my schedule and study list it looks like I will be getting far more acquainted with my local library staff!