OF PRINCESSES … AND TRUCKS?
The Princess would probably love this truck!
In my last post, I talked about the types of research I did in preparation for THE PRINCESS AND THE PEABODYS - which will be published Sept. 1 - pretty exciting!!!
This week, I put away my tiara and pom-poms to learn more about TRUCKS! Thanks to the internet, there’s a lot more to research than looking things up in the encyclopedia. Now you can connect one on one with people. I googled around for a while trying to figure out what kind of old truck I want my characters to repair in a manuscript I’m working on. Then, I had a brainstorm. Though I know nothing about cars except how to drive one, I enjoy listening to NPR’s Car Talk with those crazy brothers, Tom and Ray. I remembered that they have a website. So I went on their chat room and spelled out my plight. Within minutes, a number of very generous truck lovers got online to help me out. I am now reading a recommended book, TRUCK: On Rebuilding a Worn-Out Pickup and Other Post-Technological Adventures by John Jerome. This is definitely not the kind of book I’d normally read, but what I love about writing is all the places my work takes me, at least in my head. Actually, it looks interesting … kind of like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, which is a classic. And I’d forgotten about that book until I picked up TRUCK. I may have to reread Zen again.
As you can tell by the books I’ve written, I like variety. As much as I love writing the Humphrey books, I wouldn’t want to write them exclusively. So in between, I’ve traveled to Sassafras Springs, MO in search of wonders and to Pine Glen, CA where a medieval princess meets the modern world to… well, I don’t talk about books in progress.
I’m just so grateful that nice truck-repairing men (maybe women, too) answered the plea of a children’s book author - people are pretty darn nice.
Here’s the link to the Car Talk site, in case you have any vehicles in need of repair! http://cartalk.com/