Loose Sally Blog Contribution

Another Loose Sally (a blog component of Hunger Mountain, Vermont College of Fine Arts' Literary Journal) is running a fun series called "Write, Sally, Write!" in which responses to common questions and situations writers face are considered.  I contributed my two cents to the initial posting.  No surprise, I suppose, that I am billed as the "practical" advice.  But check out the more humorous ones!  It makes me miss my VCFA classmates!
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Another Road Trip

I've just entered another section in my "Researching Revolutionary" section (see tab above)... this one on a road trip to Middleborough and Sharon Massachusetts, where Deborah lived before and after the war, respectively. There are photos of some notable sites, so enjoy! Next week I'll post the final installment in this section... but if you have any areas of research that you'd like me to expand on, please leave a comment and let me know.

Road Trip...

Continuing on with my entries on researching Revolutionary, I just added a section on a road trip I took up to spots in New York:  West Point, New Windsor, Newburgh, and other places where Deborah Sampson was stationed or fought.  There are lots of pictures as well as explanations for how these sites influenced my writing and revision.  Check it out via the tab above.  And... for those who aren't sure it's worth the tab click, here's a sample photo to entice you:  a shot of me at New Windsor, standing next to a reconstruction of one the cabins.  Now imagine you're a woman, disguised as a man, living in one of these (along with a dozen other soldiers) for an entire winter in 1782!

Using Other Novels

I just posted a new section in the "Researching Revolutionary" area (tab above).  This week it is about the importance of reading broadly in your genre&time period and how that was part of my writing/research process.  Next week is on to some research road trips!

Perhaps you've checked out the tab above that concerns "what I'm reading now"?  Here's a picture of Magic reading Ethan Frome with me.  She's a huge Wharton fan, and she especially appreciates the presence of a cat in this novel (she's currently working on a critical piece examining feline normativity and American realism).

Also, I'm putting together a reading list on the topic of dystopian and utopian literature (just finished reading Herland) -- any suggestions?  High school age appropriate... need not feature cats (though that's always a plus).

Earlier, I posted some pictures of where I like to write... and it is true: I prefer to write standing up and I also like to write (to paraphrase Virginia Woolf) in a room of my own.  But I couldn't resist adding in this shot of one of our cats, Magic, "assisting" in the writing process.  (She's especially helpful with revision.)

More on Researching Historical Fiction

For those looking to read more about how I researched (and started to write) my novel, Revolutionary, see the section I just added (or part one of it, anyway): here .

As always, I'd welcome comments.  Others out there who have written/researched for historical fiction?  Any experts (or interested amateurs) on the Revolutionary War?  What has your process been like?  What areas are most interesting or most frustrating to research?