Today's photo showcases just a few of the books that I have used to research my NaNo project. I did not include any of the adult non-fiction books relating to the French Impressionists that I have read over the past three years, although the three pink moleskins at the top are filled with notes from those books.
Most of these books are in fact children's books, historical fiction of 19th Century Paris, written for an audience that is similar to the middle grade audience I will target. A couple of the books are adult historical fiction novels which focus on the ballet dancers of Degas' famous paintings, a major component of my storyline.
And while I have read more books than I can count over the past several months on the craft of writing, these two books, which focus specifically on writing children's literature, are the ones that I am currently reading.
I love to write, and I look forward to devoting more time to this pursuit… but I adore research: reading and learning something new, taking notes, organizing information, and planning the project. It would be quite tempting to lose myself in the research and never follow through on writing the novel. I need to mindful of this and discipline myself to find an appropriate balance.
So here's to the start of a new season, a new project, and a new vocation…. perhaps life does begin again at the age of fifty.
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