Today’s post is part of this month’s topic ‘Change’ on the ChristianWriters.com Blog Chain. To be honest, I sit here at 7:24 CST writing this because I wasn’t so certain I knew what I wanted to say about this particular topic. Add into that the pain in my right leg caused by sciatic issues, and it causes me grumpiness and a refusal to do anything but schedule my Teaser Tuesday and Fiction Friday posts.
At least in that there is a change for the better.
But I confess an inspiration for today’s topic earlier in the month when I was watching ‘Treasure Quest’ on streaming. ‘Treasure Quest’ was a show on Discovery Channel that followed Odyssey Marine Exploration on their deep-ocean shipwreck searches looking for not only treasure but history. You see, they are archaeologists as much (or more) as treasure hunters.
Watching these people uncover deep-ocean mysteries reminded me of my childhood dream to be an archaeologist. Although, I suppose I shouldn’t call it a childhood dream because it followed me until college and tickles my fancy even now. Writing was the passion which won out in the end, but I wonder how much my desire to be a student of long-lost history inspired even that? Writers usually support a wide-spread interest in so many things, even if they are nothing but research for a character they are currently filling out on paper.
For example, I studied DNA and genetic engineering for a fan-fiction I wrote back in 2000 (called A Rose By Any Other Name). Most of the knowledge has been lost since then, but at the time I did the research I found it fascinating! And because of my interest in the research, that played out on the page and in the emotional entanglement of the main character and the love interest.
Another example would be the research done for an installment of Bookworms and Booya (I believe it was in #3, Life’s Lessons on Stress, but cannot be positive), another fan-fiction project currently on the waiting list for a rewrite. I had to research “hacking” and how to beat a hacker at their own game. That was when I discovered the different names and levels for these people. Thanks to my friend’s patience, I was able to refute any reviews/commentary that argued with what I put on paper. Well, on FanFiction.net, anyway.
I have done research into crafts for my romance, dabbled in jewelry-making myself, and always take mental notes when at events and such throughout my life. I mean, I wouldn’t be a writer if I wasn’t also an observer, right? I suppose these sub-interests make us writers have more to say and a more poignant way of getting that across to our readers.
Writing has always been the passion of my heart and the driving force behind my imagination, and I never wonder if I should have changed that particular focus. I cannot imagine my life without this aspect of it, and I definitely would not change anything about my current place. There have been challenges and tears and rage, but there has also been growth and blessing and healing; all part of the package of life here on Earth.
Maybe one day I will start doing research on what it would take to get a ticket on one of these marine adventures to the deep?
I am a writer, and I adore the spinning of the unwritten tale – that lesson waiting to be divulged to others. Each day a new story beckons. One last happy ending. My characters have a life outside of my own, and I always learn from their destiny.
