Cool research trick

Books are great for fulfilling fantasies or getting out of this world's troubles and taking you away for a few minutes, or hours, or days. Books take me places that I have already been and would like to revisit, or have never been but can't afford to go. That's one of the reasons I love setting my books in exotic and strange locations. It's fun for me to explore and see the world but with a family and a strict school schedule I can't exactly take off at a moment's notice and go to Cancun or Brazil. Something wierd about me is I collect maps, travel guides and things that help me get the feel of a story together. I watch travel videos and do everything I can to submerse myself in that culture and the land I am writing my story in. This is if it happens to be a contemporary or set in a real life place. Sometimes I manage to get free stuff by emailing the chamber of commerce or touristry committees. This is a quick way to get an overview of the most exciting things happening in an area and some of the more interesting details of everyday life. I visit sites like this one and ask for travel planners or travel guides and usually get back a thick packet of lovely details in about 6-8 weeks. This is a site to get a travel planner from Alaska. I can just imagine several stories being set in the isolated mountains of Alaska, filled with native wildlife, and rugged good looking men. http://www.travelalaska.com/Planners/Planner.aspx?utm_source=2259&utm_medium=ad Maybe I will set my next book there, but for now I must finish this book in the Caribbean called Strictly Business. Yummy beach bodies and white sandy beaches with pristine blue waters fill the pages and I only have a few more weeks until I can call the first draft done. Yippee. :) Lots of love to you all. Come back soon for the contest I am running at the end of October. There will be links to hundreds of other authors who are all participating in a HUGE Halloween contest. If you enter them, you stand a good chance of winning something.