I absolutely love Google … as a writer I’d be spending a lot more time lurking in libraries without this tool. I use it a lot, every day, in every way …
I do a lot of research, take a lot of notes, copy and paste pictures, and I probably won’t use an eighth of that material. It’s important for me to have the information because it’s more background info I’ve got on the people places and things that populate my books.
Here’s some Googled stuff for my upcoming book, Walkerville Desires 6: Revelry, which will be out really soon. Stay tuned. (And because I can, the last 2 are from other, not yet published, books.)
1) Stage coaches in Santa Cruz County: The arrival of the Santa Cruz Railroad in 1875 so affected the Watsonville-Santa Cruz stage coach lines, the last stop forced to wind down was at the Seven Mile House (where Day Valley Road currently takes off from Freedom Boulevard).
2) Stump removal is an art. You’ve got to plan. You’ll need heavy equipment. You might be able to use a bulldozer if you leave 3 or 4 feel of the tree sticking out of the ground since that heavy machine raises its blade and levers the stump out of the ground. If you cut the tree too close to the ground, all bets are off about the bulldozer.
3) I did a lot of research on parallel tracking – in a nutshell it’s the development of the lateral thinking processes focusing on explorations, e.g. looking for ‘what can be’ rather than ‘what is’. I didn’t use the terminology in Book 6 I just needed to know how Rowan and Bree might process their business partnership which was also going to be a personal relationship.
4) I had fun with tracking down Fiona’s original Chanel suit—circa 1962 Chanel cream boucle suit with jacket pockets, sleeves and trim in a navy piping, A-line skirt reaching right below her knees.
5) Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh Scotland is an extinct volcano that’s 823 feet high, and it is prominent view in many parts of Edinburgh. Besides being a feature in several of my other books, I also wanted to climb it when we were there last fall. For research and to prep myself for the climb, I found a 23 minute youtube video with panoramic views so sweeping I actually got motion sick watching it. Haha on me … but the actual climb was worth it, thank you, Universe, for health insurance and hip replacements.
6) “I now sat in the middle of his exquisite vintage chocolate brown leather Chesterfield sofa. It had three firm button cushions and a low back. I saw this sofa the same day he showed me the view of the North Sea from his office window. It called to me like a lover with too little clothes on. I loved the way it caressed my body, so cool to the touch, intensely masculine, amazingly comfortable and so much like Fintan.” So about Chesterfield sofas, did you know that Freud, the grandfather of psychoanalysis, realized the most effective way of learning as much about his patients as he could was to have them speak freely without fear of being judged. He realized his patients had to feel relaxed. The Chesterfield met his criteria with its comfort and luxurious feel, which also went a long way to enhance his patients’ comfort level.
Love, yk