EVERYTHING is research. Everything.

Right now I'm sitting in a motel in Fillmore, Utah, because their was a blizzard so bad they shut down the freeway, not that we could see anything in front of us anyway. I have never seen winds and snow like that. It was INSANE! My mom and sister were totally freaking out, but I have to admit, I thought it was kind of awesome. We were on our way home from a trip to Vegas, which was also awesome. Anyway, the point of this is that while my mom was praying that we would survive and my sister was stressing about not getting home, I was thinking, I could use this in a story. Not that my experience is unusual or would make the most interesting part of a story. But every experience we have counts as writerly research, at least I think so. You can go anywhere, meet anyone, and it counts as research. That is one of my favorite things about being a writer. That is also one of the reasons to have a notebook with you at all times. Jot down everything. It will come back to help you later. Dreams, names, interesting logos, things you see while your people watching, places you get stuck in the middle of blizzards, and who you get stuck with. Talk to people. I need to do better at this one. My mom is a pro at it, and sometimes I just like to sit and admire the ease with which she can relate to and communicate with complete strangers. That is a good skill to have. Talk to people, get their stories. Live your own stories and write them down. You will be glad you did.