Research: One for the Books

I started out as a journalist and business writer. So I knew from the beginning that I would spend a lot of time researching for information and accuracy. Fiction, for me, was to be read, not written . . . until I had a dream shortly after my husband passed away.

It had me sitting in Piazza Navona in Rome, Italy (where I had never been). When I looked around, I spotted a man who looked like my husband in a wheelchair, wearing a beret. (My husband had never had any contact with a wheelchair or a beret.) I walked over to him and asked his name. In a loud voice, he said, "My name is Irwin Cappella." At that point, I woke up and almost fell out of bed laughing. "Who is Irwin Cappella?"

He was so loud, and the dream was so vivid, I knew there must be a book in there somewhere. A short time later, I was packed and on my way to Rome . . . to do research. Well, it was a dirty job, but somebody had to do it! That's when Rome Is Waiting, a novel, was born (not yet published). All the aspects of this fiction were explored every inch of the way: historical, medical, psychological, geographical and cultural. (Old habits die hard.) I kept remembering a book I once had started to read about Chicago that had State Street and Randolph Street running the same way. That was enough to make me research even further.

So keep that "R" word close to your heart to hang onto your credibility. It's amazing how much you can learn and how it can sometimes surprise you. You might even take a trip to Rome.