Belated Feline Friday with Sierra, Queen of Research

I realized I didn't do a Feline Friday this week (when people started yelling at me), so I'm adding some "guest cat" photos to my Thursday post about the lovely Sierra, Queen of Research. These lovely creatures are Ploof and Elwing :-)

Some authors love to write books that involve a lot of research. Not me.

Don't get me wrong--I do plenty of research, especially for particular books. I own a gazillion (approximately) books on magic, witchcraft, and the like, for use both when writing the Llewellyn nonfiction and my paranormal romance/urban fantasy fiction. And I spend a fair amount of time online doing research as well.

Therein lies the problem, of course. Research takes time. Online research not only takes time, but offers lots of opportunities for distraction. You know what I mean, if you're an author. Say you put in a search for "movies with brooms" for example. This takes you to a Wikipedia site that shows you info on a particular movie. But that site also contains interesting links to about twelve other things: actors, the book the movie was based on, clips from the movie...three hours later, you still don't have the information you were looking for, and you haven't accomplished a thing. GAH!

Which is why, when I was writing my last Llewellyn book, A BROOM FOR EVERY WITCH (title tentative), I called on a friend for help.

I needed to do an unusual amount of research for this book, including things like the history of brooms (both as a household tool and a magickal one), brooms in popular culture, how to make one from scratch...all sorts of things. But I only had two months to write the book, and I knew perfectly well that I couldn't do that AND do all the research.

Enter the amazing Sierra M.

Sierra is a pal of mine, and online research is her super power.

I gave her a list of information I needed, and she came back with exactly what I needed, including links to where she found it, so I could go look further if I needed to. It was AMAZING. Saved my butt with the book. And I will definitely be using her for this service again.

In fact, she was so amazing, I suggested she take her show on the road, so to speak. I know lots of writers who love to do research. But I also know plenty more, like me, who simply don't have the time and energy to do it all. So here is my official recommendation, should you need someone to help with online research. Her rates are extremely reasonable, she's fast, and she's GOOD.

If you need someone to help you out with research (or know a friend who does) you can contact Sierra at sierrakatresearch@gmail.com

Just tell her Deborah sent you :-)