So my current WIP is set entirely in Massachusetts, primarily on Cape Cod. (Simply ‘The Cape’ to those of you fortunate enough to be personally familiar with the area). Since the location is very prominent in the story, I have been submersing myself in all things Mass/Cape Cod lately. Everything from photos I took on my trip to the area in the fall of 2014, to nautical maps of the coastline, to my new 2016 New England wall calendar (which has brilliant photos, but no description of what or where the photos are. WTH?), all for the sake of staying in that New England mindset while I write.

But somehow, it doesn’t seem like enough. I’m finding that I would really like to take a quick weekend trip back there and do a little more research, soak up everything the area has to offer. Or at least as much as I can in two days. Eat the food, drive the streets, talk to the people and take a thousand more photos. But on the other hand, I keep asking myself, ‘who do you think you are, Hemingway? Jack London?’ We have this thing nowadays called ‘the Internet.’ People don’t travel for novel research anymore. Anything you would ever want to know about an area or culture is only a few mouse clicks away. Go ahead. Google it and I bet you’ll find what you’re looking for.

Still, there’s just something about the authenticity of first-hand research that makes me think the novel would benefit greatly from a quick trip; to really infuse the essence of New England and Cape Cod into the story. But then, I also love to travel, so maybe that part of me is subconsciously encouraging the trip, passing itself off as the writer in search of authenticity. Who knows? Maybe it’s a little bit of both. Either way, with or without my own trip, I hope to provide readers of my next book with a little journey to an area I fell in love with long before I ever visited.