Research

I'm working on a story that has all kinds of things in it that I don't know anything about. Because I can't always write what I know. I don't know all that much. I'd run out of ideas pretty fast. But there would be a lot of food in my stories.

Um, there is, in fact, a lot of food in my stories.

But now I get to research some stuff. Like gymkhana. Do you know what that is? It's sort of rich-kids' rodeo. Remember that time I told you about my neighbor's horse? Well, she's a high-school rodeo competitor (the neighbor, not the horse*) and I've seen her do some cool races. When she was about 12 I watched her compete in this event where she did some crazy racing around water barrels and starting and stopping her horse and all manner of horsey-tricks. It was called gymkhana, which even this blogging program knows is a real word, spelled correctly (and maybe I was the only one who didn't know that before) and I am totally using that in my story. Fun, huh?

So I write a bit, and then research a lot, and then write a bit more. Maybe I'll have to go over to the Pony Palace** and watch some competitions. And eat scones or popcorn or some other carnival-type food***, because that goes along with rodeo in my head. And all that time, I can consider myself "working" - you know, working. Working. (Insert giggles here.)

Ah, research. Love it.

*except, apparently, also the horse. You know what I mean.

**really. That's what it's called. It's a county rodeo facility, I think. And that may not be the precise and exact name of the facility, but that's what "everyone" around here calls it.

***but not corn-dogs. I have my limit. I've never (to my knowledge) eaten a corn dog, and I'd really like it to stay that way.