Passions

I veer between my two passions - fiction writing and history. Ideally, a compromise can be made in writing historical fiction, correct? But it doesn't quite satisfy the cravings I have towards the history profession.

For example, I would love to live and work at Colonial Williamsburg. Or some Revolutionary War or Civil War battlefield. But then I wonder...when would I have time for my fiction writing? Will I be able to do both passions, just not at the same time?

I can get very excited when I research. But I do not specialize in one certain field because I love so many! I can really get into Colonial America, the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, Regency England, the French Revolution, Napoleonic Wars, and then zip all the way up to the twentieth century with my fascination of World War II and the Troubles in Northern Ireland. I sometimes feel as though I have "too many" research interests and I skitter around to each one without putting in a solid amount of time on one in particular. I don't know what the cure for this problem is, other than to write a book in every single time period that I'm interested in...and if I think about it...well, I pretty much have already (although they're not finished).

Right now, the inspirational romance that takes place in World War II is one at the top of my list. This is helped out by the fact that I'm also writing a non-fiction book on the German POW camp at Fort Robinson. So I can merge the two.

But then I start to long for Regency England and an age where no telephones and radio existed. Which is why I'm working on Robert's story.

But then there's the lure of the American Revolution...it fascinates me. When I took a course on this in graduate school, I was lucky enough to read a lot of primary texts. And the story ideas I came up with were seemingly endless!

So you can see my problem. Lots of time periods, not enough time to explore them all.

For now, I think I'll focus on two time periods - WWII and Regency England. The next project might be my Northern Ireland romance, one I started just out of undergraduate school, and one which I shelved after nearly completing it because I didn't feel I could emotionally write any more of it. But that time may be approaching soon.