The Research Trip That Still Lives in My Head

Writers tend to collect experiences the way some people collect souvenirs.

A certain street corner. The smell of saltwater on the wind. The creak of wooden boards beneath your feet as you walk along a dock. Those details linger long after the trip ends, waiting for the moment when they can find their way into a story. It's probably why I'm more of an experience gal than a "stuff" gal.

One of the research trips that still lives vividly in my mind took me to a coastal town where the rhythm of life seemed tied to the tides. Fishing boats rocked gently in the harbor, and the air carried that unmistakable mix of salt and sun-warmed wood. So many of the sights and sounds took me back to my childhood, when I visited this little island and first learned about my family ties to it.

This time, I reserved a room at a quaint little B&B for two nights. I remember walking along the waterfront early one morning before most of the town had fully woken up. A few shopkeepers were opening their doors on Main Street, and gulls wheeled overhead, their squawks announcing the start of the day like a rooster's crow. Oh, there were a few of those too.

Moments like that are gold for a novelist.

Writers tend to notice things others might otherwise overlook. The color of the water shifting as the sun climbs higher, the way the breeze carries voices across the docks, the quiet conversations between locals who have known each other for years.

Research trips aren't always about gathering facts. Sometimes they’re about absorbing atmosphere.

On that particular visit, I carried a small notebook with me and jotted down details whenever something caught my attention. The sound of rigging tapping against a mast. The faded lettering on the side of an old boat. The scent of fresh coffee drifting from a café tucked into a corner building.

None of those details seemed important at the time. But months later, when I sat down to write a scene set along the shoreline, those small observations returned like old friends. Suddenly the setting felt alive because I wasn't inventing the world entirely from imagination. I could actually remember it...thanks to my notes.

Places Have Stories of Their Own

Every weathered building has witnessed laughter, loss, and everything in between. Every harbor or town square holds decades of quiet history beneath the surface. Part of a writer's job is simply to listen.

To walk through a place slowly enough that the atmosphere sinks in. To notice the little details that reveal character. That doesn't only come from the people who live there. It can also come from the setting itself. As a writer, I try to paint a setting in such a way that the reader goes there with me and imagines themselves standing right there with my characters.

That research trip reminded me that stories don't always contain intense, dramatic moments. Sometimes, the story is found in the quiet spaces between those moments. I mean, think of your favorite movie. It could be an action thriller or a small town romance. The entire movie isn't 100% constant action or constant drama. The script also layers in some lighthearted, relaxed moments to give viewers a chance to breathe or connect better with the characters on a different level.

A good setting can lend itself to those sliced-in moments. It's also often a place that sticks with you long after the story concludes. It lives and breathes and seems to have a life of its own. When you close your eyes, you can see the details clearly in your mind.

And for a storyteller, when I pay attention long enough, a place will tell me exactly the kind of story it wants to become.

Have you ever visited a place that stayed with you long after you left? Somewhere that felt like it held stories in the air? Share with me in the comments what location has lingered in your memory the most.

Behind My Current Work-in-Progress

Every story begins with a question. Sometimes it's a simple one. 

What would happen if two people with a complicated past had to face each other again?

Other times it's more layered.

What happens when someone must choose between protecting what they love and doing what's right?

The idea for my current work-in-progress started the way many of my stories do, with a setting that has long been infused in my family history and holds a special place in my heart.

Certain places have a way of planting themselves in your imagination. The shoreline. The quiet rhythm of boats in the harbor. The weathered charm of buildings that have witnessed decades of history. That's Chincoteague Island for you. Every time I visit, my mind spins with characters appearing in my imagination as if they've always belonged there.

This particular story centers around two people whose lives have taken very different paths since their younger days. Time and circumstance have shaped them both. When their worlds collide again, old memories and misunderstandings surface right along with them.

What fascinates me most about stories like this is the emotional journey beneath the surface plot. Characters rarely struggle with just the obvious problem. Beneath every disagreement or difficult decision lies something deeper. Usually, you'll find fear, regret, pride, or the quiet longing to be understood.

Those hidden layers are where the real story lives.

Researching the Hidden Layers

Research plays its part in the process, too. Once the initial idea takes hold, I inevitably fall down a few rabbit trails. I've spent more than one afternoon chasing historical details, regional traditions, or even some of those bits of local lore that have potential to add texture to a scene. Everybody loves local lore, right?

Sometimes those discoveries lead to entire moments in the story I hadn't planned. Other times they simply deepen my understanding of the world the characters inhabit.

Faith also weaves quietly throughout the story as part of how the characters wrestle with their choices. Questions of forgiveness, trust, purpose, direction, and second chances often appear in my novels because many of us face those questions in real life. When I don't have someone right in front of me to listen, stories give me a safe place to explore those struggles.

As this manuscript continues to take shape, I'm still learning things about the characters myself. They surprise me sometimes, taking a conversation in a direction I hadn't expected or revealing a piece of their past that suddenly makes everything else make sense.

That's one of my favorite parts of writing. You begin with an outline and an idea, but somewhere along the way the story starts breathing on its own. And when that happens, you know you're on the right track.

When you read a novel, do you ever wonder what first sparked the story for the author? What part of the storytelling process interests you most: characters, setting, research, or the twists along the way? Tell me what it is and why in the comments.

What Raising Kids Taught Me About Storytelling

There’s a funny thing about storytelling. You can study craft books, attend conferences, and read hundreds of novels, but some of the best lessons come from everyday life.

For me, a lot of those lessons came during the time I had to step back from writing my novels to focus on my family and being present with my kids.

There were years when my writing happened in the slim margins of the day. During naptime, after bedtime, or in the quiet moments before the house woke up. Those seasons didn’t leave much room for uninterrupted creativity, but they did offer something just as valuable. Looking back at what I did manage to write, I see I had a front-row seat to real human emotion.

If you've ever watched a toddler insist they can do something themselves, you've seen stubborn determination in its purest form. If you've comforted a child after a hard day at school, you've seen vulnerability. If you've witnessed siblings move from fierce argument to wholehearted forgiveness in the span of ten minutes, you've seen a character arc unfold in real time. Of course, in fiction, it doesn't happen that quickly.

Parenting as a Mirror to Character Development

Still, parenting has a way of revealing the layers inside people, both in your children and in yourself. It exposes impatience, perseverance, pride, grace, and the quiet courage required to keep showing up day after day. Those same layers are exactly what make fictional characters feel real.

One afternoon years ago, I remember sitting at the dining room table with a notebook open beside a pile of math worksheets. My child worked through fractions while I scribbled a few lines of dialogue between characters who were stuck in the middle of their own conflict. The two moments seemed unrelated at the time, but looking back now, I can see how closely they mirrored each other.

Both required patience.

Both required persistence.

And both reminded me that even though I like things tied up with a well-formed bow, growth rarely happens in neat, tidy steps.

What a Story Needs

Stories thrive on tension, the space between where a character is and where they need to be. Parenting lives in that same space. You guide, encourage, correct, and hope the lessons take root somewhere beneath the surface. You're also experiencing your own growth journey as a human being, guiding little future adults.

In many ways, raising kids sharpened my understanding of character more than any writing manual ever could. It taught me that people don't change overnight. They stumble. They learn. They try again. And sometimes the most meaningful victories are the quiet ones no one else notices.

Faith plays a role in that perspective, too. Watching children grow is a daily reminder that none of us are finished works. We're all learning, all stretching, all discovering what it means to live with humility, courage, perseverance, and grace.

Those truths inevitably find their way into my stories.

The years of juggling writing with family life may have slowed the pace of blog posts or manuscripts at times, but they deepened the well I draw from as a storyteller. And if there's one thing parenting confirmed for me, it's this:

The best stories don't come from imagination alone.

They come from paying attention to the people right in front of you.

I hope the stories I write now showcase greater depth and character emotion than the books I wrote prior to my hiatus. Although I still struggle with tapping into some of those emotional experiences myself, my characters can experience them for me.

Have you ever noticed how everyday moments—especially with family—reveal deeper truths about people and relationships? What life experience has taught you the most about understanding others? Share it with me in the comments.

The Story Behind the Stories

Welcome to Rooted in Story

There’s something fitting about beginning again with a story.

Years ago, this little corner of the internet lived under a different name — A Fiction-Filled Life. I posted book reviews, interviewed authors, shared photos from research trips, and talked about whatever story had taken hold of my imagination at the time. Then life shifted. Babies grew. My daughter showcased special needs. School schedules filled. Deadlines tightened. And like so many good things, the blog went quiet.

But the stories never did. Now, I'm back to tell more. I've heard folks relate better to failures than successes...although they still want to know you succeed. Well, this road bridging to the past has a lot of those tried-but-failed moments.

I’ve always written fiction because story is how I process the world. Give me a setting, a conflict, a pair of wounded hearts trying to find solid ground, and I can untangle almost anything. Fiction lets me ask questions safely. It lets me wrestle with doubt, forgiveness, pride, hope, and redemption without pointing fingers. It gives me room to explore truth through characters who feel real enough to sit across the table from me.

I still remember the years during high school sitting at my childhood desk. That old wooden one with the drawer that stuck every time I tried to open it. At that desk, I drafted my first serious attempt at a novel. I had a spiral notebook, a pen that smeared when I wrote too fast, and absolutely no idea what I was doing. I only knew that the characters wouldn’t leave me alone. I wrote after school, late at night, whenever I could steal an hour. I wasn’t thinking about contracts or publication or platform. I was thinking about whether the heroine would forgive the hero, and whether the ending would feel honest.

That hasn’t changed. What has changed is perspective.

Faith has always shaped my storytelling, but not in a heavy-handed way. I don’t sit down with a checklist of lessons to teach. I start with people. With broken places. With longings we all recognize. And because my faith informs how I see the world, grace and redemption naturally find their way onto the page. But I work hard to not lecture. I avoid a sermon disguised as dialogue. Instead, those redemptive themes exist as the quiet undercurrent that reminds me no story is beyond hope.

I believe truth resonates most deeply when it’s woven into lived experience. When readers see themselves in a character’s stubbornness or fear. When they recognize their own questions in a scene. That’s where story becomes more than entertainment. It becomes connection.

What You Can Expect Here Now

You’ll find behind-the-scenes glimpses of works in progress. Research rabbit trails. Reflections on books I’m reading and authors who inspire me or tell great stories. The occasional guest voice. Pieces of the writing life that don’t always make it into a polished novel. Let's call them the messy middles, the sparks of inspiration, the moments when a setting suddenly feels real.

This space has grown up a bit since its early days, just like I have. But the heart of it remains the same: a love for story, and a desire to explore the deeper truths that shape us.

Welcome (back) to Rooted in Story — where fiction, faith, and the life behind the books meet.

I’m glad you’re here. Let's journey through stories together!

Book Review: Rescue on the Farm

I've lost count of the number of times I've intended to come back here and start posting again, only for life to take me on a different course. When I finally clicked on the blog and saw my previous posts, I'm a little embarrassed to see 12 years have passed. I'm not sure that 1 lone post in 2019 announcing an anthology release actually counts. :) If it does, though, I have only been gone for a little over 5 years, and that sounds a wee bit better. *g*

Anyway, if you've missed me or been wondering, yes, I am still writing. However, following a medical diagnosis for my daughter along with the time and emotional demands that came with it, a shift had to happen. The energy it takes to get my stories from my head to the page no longer existed.

Try as I might, I simply had nothing creative left to pour into stories. And for the next 10 years, that reality defined my career. So, my writing had to shift from crafting fictional stories to working in the copywriting and copyediting side of the industry. A bit more technical and demanding less brain power that was fully devoted to being present with my children.

Thankfully, I kept in touch with my colleagues and writing friends, and I've been chipping away at my next novel. It's just taking me far longer than expected.

In the meantime, I have a review on a book by a longtime friend of mine, Ms. Allie Pleiter, also known as The Chunky Method Gal. :)

I thoroughly enjoyed RESCUE ON THE FARM. Allie Pleiter's brilliant storytelling blends themes of forgiveness and hope through the delightful interactions between Grant, Meg, and those endearing little rescue puppies. She creates a compelling read that resonates with fans of inspirational romance and showcases the transformative power of love and community.

Aren't the puppies on that cover just adorable? If you're looking for a feel-good story that celebrates new beginnings and the joy animals bring into our lives, pick up this book. The heartfelt moments and charming characters will leave a lasting impression.

Have you read this book? Or any other by Allie? How about anything from the Love Inspired line of books? Leave a comment with your favorite books to read, and maybe share about some of your favorite authors.