One of the cool things that writers get to do when putting together a book, is to research some of the material that is going into the overall published material.  For the Stone House series, I have had some interesting conversations with some very intriguing individuals.

The overall goal in talking to people is to gain a flavor of reality for the story. If I were to state something in the story about overall police procedures and have something glaring wrong – it would really put off people who know how it should be. Being a nurse, I actually get offended when I read stories that have medical procedures all wrong.  It really puts me off the story, and I believe that the author did not take the time to get the details right.

 I have spoken with police at all levels to understand some of the procedures they undergo when a murder is being investigated. I have researched how long it takes for a body to decompose and taken the time to understand how an incident command would be set up in the middle of the woods.

The most interesting conversation I have had so far in my career, has been the conversation I had with a medium – actually she is a psychic medium. I love to scare myself with ghost stories and will frequently watch TV shows that have mediums and cast members that claim to talk to dead people.

My goal was to find out if she could really see people who ‘are on the other side’, and “test” whether or not her predictions or her reading of me would be accurate.  In our conversation, I learned that I have a lot of Angel Energy and that I needed to make the change I was considering in my career. I thought the first was pretty cool but was a little shocked at the second. I had purposely decided to NOT share any information in order to have what I considered to be a valid reading. She should not have known that. I did tell her I was writing a book where one of the characters was a medium, and I wanted to get it right. She was glad I asked, as she had similar reaction to incorrect information in books as I did. I had not shared anything personal, except my name. hmmm

Back to seeing ghosts.  She shared with me, that indeed she could see spirits on the other side, she can feel their energy and they share information with her. Some are easier to read than others. She then shared with me that there was someone who was trying to thank me, she asked if I knew someone named “C…”  She mentioned my father by name, who had died several years ago.  Now she could have googled me or looked me up on Facebook for some of this information; at that point in my conversation, I wasn’t fully impressed.

But then…. And I still get chills when I think about this. No other person on earth knew what she next said to me. There was no way she could have known what transpired as my father lay dying all those years ago….

And I became a believer….