Guest Author: Donna Schlachter

Donna Schlachter

Research Isn't Work

I always thought history was boring, probably because about the only thing I remember is memorizing dates for the reigns of monarchs (I’m from Canada, so we focused on British history). And I don’t do well with memorizing.

But give me a tidbit of historical information, like the Pony Express, and I’m off to the races. And while not all research is historical, I thought you might be interested in a list of places where you can do research.

1. Your local library: Most libraries have a local history section or a genealogy section, and in larger towns and cities, you will likely also find newspaper archives. Look for books written during the time period you’re writing about.
2. Historical societies: often have diaries and journals of residents, albums of pictures, and lots of newspaper and magazine clippings. Most do a calendar each year as a fund raiser, so ask for back copies that are probably reduced in price now.
3. Historical markers: Most states have dozens of historical markers along the highways. Don’t be afraid to get off the highway for a few miles and follow a rutted trail into the middle of a huge meadow to discover a single marker about an obscure Civil War Battle that few have heard of.
4. Trail Interpretation Centers: Not only do they talk about the trail but usually they include history of the local area as well.
5. Visitor Centers: Often the people who work or volunteer at these centers are locals who know the local history or have an interest in a special piece of history.
6. State Park centers and gift shops: The people who work here usually know a lot about the area, or know the people in the area who know a lot.
7. Museums: There are museums for just about every interest. I have visited airplane and glider museums; Pony Express museums; Old Western Town museums; War museums; aircraft carrier museum; police and military museum; firearms museums; stagecoach museum; carriage museum; and automobile museums.
8. History Museums: Particularly in larger cities, these museums bring in and rotate through a variety of exhibits during the year. Become a member and get on their mailing list to stay up to date. For example, Denver recently had the Sherlock Holmes exhibit and the Poison exhibit.
9. Entertainment attractions: For example, in Las Vegas, there are virtual reality-type shows where you can be a CSI and walk through a crime scene, look at evidence, and enter a report as to your findings.
10. Movies: I like to watch movies set in the time period I’m currently writing in. The closer the movie was made to the event the better, I’ve found.

For my latest release, Echoes of the Heart, I spent a lot of time in museums, in the library, online, and in the car driving from one Pony Express station to the next. While I haven’t covered the entire trail, I hope to. Which will probably germinate more stories about the Pony Express.

About Donna:

Donna lives in Denver with husband Patrick, her first-line editor and biggest fan. She writes historical suspense under her own name, and contemporary suspense under her alter ego of Leeann Betts. She is a hybrid publisher who has published a number of books under her pen name and  under her own name. Her current release, Echoes of the Heart, a 9-in-1 novella collection titled "Pony Express Romance Collection" released April 1. Donna is also a ghostwriter and editor of fiction and non-fiction, and judges in a number of writing contests. She will be teaching an online course for American Christian Fiction Writers in June 2017, “Don’t let your subplots sink your story”. Donna loves history and research, and travels extensively for both.

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Echoes of the Heart

Guest Author: Donna Schlachter

Writing What You Don’t Know

We’ve all heard that we should write about what we know. But what if you find out about a project that you don’t know anything about but would like to learn?

I discovered since I started writing seriously that I love history. I met up with Mary Davis at an ACFW conference  and asked her what she was working on. She said she and three other authors were putting together a proposal on the Pony Express. I said if there was an opening, I’d love to join.

I told my husband about this meeting, and he said, “Sounds like an excuse for a road trip.” So I researched the Pony Express and learned that the only station in Colorado was in Julesburg. So we picked a long weekend and set out. Along the way, we stopped at the visitor center at Sterling, Colorado. I asked if they had information about the Pony Express, and she showed me the couple of pieces they had. She also said I should talk with the past president of the Colorado Pony Express Association. She called him, Gary came down, and we spent an hour talking about the Pony Express.

Prior to this trip, before I even knew if I’d be able to get in on Mary’s collection, I’d visited the library and read a bunch of stuff about the Pony Express. I’d researched online, and I’d ordered a couple of books from Amazon.

A month later, Mary Davis emailed and said one of the ladies had to drop out and now there was an opening. Because I’d done the research, I was ready to submit a proposal.

What I’ve learned:

1. Writing only what I know boxes me in. Writing what I’d like to know allows me to learn and explore. I don’t need to be an expert; I just need to know enough to sound credible. If I don’t know a particular detail, I can always look it up online or find a book with the information.
2. Writers conferences are great places to connect with other authors as well as with agents and editors.
3. The more I learn about a subject, the more excited I get, and the easier it is to write about it.
4. No matter the topic, there is a book, a museum, or an expert out there.
5. Folks love talking about their jobs. Plan to interview someone.
6. Research the kind of museum you’d like to visit—many have virtual tours if you can’t physically visit. 

About the Book

This is a 9-in-1 novella collection from Barbour Books centered on the Pony Express, which ran from April 1860 through November 1861. The Pony Express already seems to be a romantic snippet of Americana, and so it seemed to make sense to write a collection of historical romance set on the trail. My story, Echoes of the Heart, features a mail order bride responding under an assumed name, a crippled station master who thinks no woman will want him, and their search for a future—together or separately.

About Donna

Donna lives in Denver with husband Patrick, her first-line editor and biggest fan. She writes historical suspense under her own name, and contemporary suspense under her alter ego of Leeann Betts. She is a hybrid publisher who has published a number of books under her pen name and  under her own name. Her current release, Echoes of the Heart, a 9-in-1 novella collection titled "Pony Express Romance Collection" released April 1. Donna is also a ghostwriter and editor of fiction and non-fiction, and judges in a number of writing contests. She will be teaching an online course for American Christian Fiction Writers in June 2017, “Don’t let your subplots sink your story”. Donna loves history and research, and travels extensively for both.

www.HiStoryThruTheAges.wordpress.com

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Books

Echoes of the Heart

Self-Imposed Deadlines (Leeann Betts)

(A Writing Tips Post)

There is something intimidating about deadlines. When you first sign that contract or make that agreement to have your book in your publisher’s hands six months from now, that seems like a long time. Sure, you can take a week off and celebrate. And another week to do some research. Then one of the kids gets the mumps. And another.

And before you know it, it’s April 2nd and your book is due April 25th.
 
What do you do? Panic!

But what about if you’re not under an official contract? You don’t have a publisher breathing down your neck, waiting for your book. You have all the time in the world, right?

No. You don’t.

If you are a writer, then you must write. And if you’re a writer, you must be writing for someone other than yourself. At the very least, as a Christian writer, you are writing for God. And even if He is the only One who ever sees what you’re writing, He has an expectation that at some point, you’ll be ready to move on to the next project.

Failing to set a finish date sets you up to fail.

So even if you’re not under someone else’s deadline, you should be under one of your own.
How can you stick to that date?

• Make up some business cards with the cover on it and the release date.
• Tell other people.
• Spread the news on social media.
• Write it on a calendar in ink.
• Keep a picture of the cover in front of you with the release date written on it.
• Schedule time to accomplish the work by the date you say.

 
What happens when life gets in the way?

You might need to put aside something else in your life so you can meet your personal deadline. That’s right.

• Get up 30 minutes earlier.
• Go to bed 30 minutes later.
• Skip your lunch hour and write.
• Skip television one or two or three nights a week.
• Take your laptop when you go to an appointment and work while you’re waiting.
• Tell your family what your goal is, and ask them to help you meet that goal

 
Self-Imposed deadlines might not be about finishing a book. Maybe you’ve spent way too much time on research but you can’t tear yourself away. So set a deadline. Two more days and then you’re done. You might be pleasantly surprised at how much you get done in the next two days.

Maybe you’re spending too much time re-writing. Face it—ten years is too long. One year is probably too long. Repeat after me: It will never be perfect.

And that’s because you are learning as you go. You will continue to learn. You want to put out the best product possible, but not getting the book done isn’t going to help anybody. Let it go. Or pay someone else to re-write for you.

What kinds of deadlines do you give yourself?
 

Leeann Betts writes contemporary suspense, while her real-life persona, Donna Schlachter, pens historical suspense. No Accounting for Murder and There Was a Crooked Man, books 1 and 2 in her By the Numbers series, released in the fall of 2015 Book 3,Unbalanced, released in January. Book 4, Five and Twenty Blackbirds, is due in April, with more planned for later dates. If you like accountants or are an accountant, check out Counting the Days: a 31-day devotional for accountants, bookkeepers, and financial folk. Leeann and Donna have penned a book on writing,Nuggets of Writing Gold, and Donna has published a book of short stories, Second Chances and Second Cups. You can follow Leeann atwww.AllBettsAreOff.wordpress.com and Donna atwww.HiStoryThruTheAges.wordpress.com. All books are available at Amazon.com in digital and print, and at Smashwords.com in digital.