***Welcome Susan Shay who's taking today to share research on psychics and cowboys! Hey, I write paranormals, and I'm Texan. This is an excellent combination, Ms. Shay. Rodeo's are just about the only live sport I can sit through.  Otherwise, I'm known for reading research books and scrawling notes for wips while my husband spectates.  And I used to ride my friend's barrel horse. Note, those of us who haven't rode a horse well-versed in running the barrels, just clutch the pommel. The horse knows what to do!!! I'm certain you'll enjoy Ms. Shay's approach to research as much as I did. ~Skhye 

The research I did for my book, BLIND SIGHT, was just plain enjoyable. I couldn't get enough of it. (Researchaholics Anonymous, please call me.) The book is set in the Hill Country of Texas, down around Austin. I've been through Austin and visited San Antonio once, but I found the best research source to be my friend and fellow author, Margaret E. Reid.  Meg hails from Austin, so she was able to give me invaluable input for the feel of the countryside.

In BLIND SIGHT, a touch psychic sees through the eyes of a murderer who visits the bookstore where she works. The first thing I did was to go online to find what I could about touch psychics. The Internet is a great place to do research on just about any subject, as long as you're very careful about the websites you visit. Touch psychics was an easy one.

Another way I did research was to watch several movies. I know movies aren't necessarily factual, but I find them to be a great place to observe emotions and reactions. And catch onto the specific dialogue used by any group of people. The best movie I watched was Vibes. Made in 1988, it starred Jeff Goldblum, Cyndi Lauper and Peter Falk. The movie is about several different kinds of psychics, hired to find a lost treasure. Jeff Goldblum is a touch psychic, and really caught my attention in the movie when he helped his girl friend fold her laundry, touched her clean panties and "saw" her having an affair with another man. (It was hilarious, too.) He later touched a key and "saw" the man who used it. In BLIND SIGHT, my heroine, Cassie, picks up a cup and "sees" a dead girl's body, being pushed off a cliff. Later, she touches a chess piece and sees another murder.

Of course, there was other research that was just as difficult. Most of the book is set in an independent bookstore with a coffee shop that serves a chocolate/caramel/coffee concoction, so naturally I had to do my time, hanging around bookstores and drinking something similar. Did I mention BLIND SIGHT was a joy to research? Much of what I wrote about my psychic was part of the world I set up, which came from my mind rather than research. I had Cassie channeling the killer's dreams, which once she thought about it, meant the killer had to live in very close proximity to her.

Cassie tells Keegan how she became a psychic when she was 13 years old. This story came from my childhood. A cousin of mine, running across some flat boulders , slipped on the dusty surface and fell down between them, was knocked out. I started crying hysterically and told my parents, "Roger's gone! He's under a rock." Even at the time, I had no memory of the event after I heard Roger's Tarzan yell. I didn't see him fall, didn't even know where he'd been, but I was able to tell them where he was. Thus my only brush with being psychic. (In the book, Cassie falls, has something wondrous happen to her, and is psychic when she finds her way out.) Throughout the book, Cassie tells Keegan that everyone is a psychic if they'll open up and let themselves be.  (After all, I was!)

All my books aren't quite as easy to research as BLIND SIGHT. I recently finished a novella with a rodeo setting. My heroine is a barrel racer and my hero a bull rider. To get the real lingo, I joined an online loop of barrel racers. They were more than happy to share their expertise with me. Then I found a member of my writers' group who'd barrel raced when she was younger. Again, I went online to learn about saddles used by the women.

I'm a rodeo lover, and saw a barrel racer's horse go down during a race one time, which inspired this story. But memory isn't as good as being able to watch it over and over, so I Youtubed it. It was a great place to see bull riders in slow motion, too. 

I'm currently working on a book set in the Four Corners area of Colorado. While I've visited there many times, it's been several years. So some of my writer friends suggested books to purchase that help with the flora, fauna and feel of the area. But even better than that, when I mentioned this upcoming book in a workshop I gave, I received an email from another writer who'd not only been to that area in the past year, he and his wife had worked on a archeological dig. Just what I needed! So to be very honest, my best avenue when doing research is people. Especially writers. Most I know are very happy to share their knowledge, and if they don't know, they're glad to tell you where to go for whatever you need.

And the cost? Just pay it forward.

http://www.susanshay.net

http://the-twisted-sisters.com

Blind Sight

And don't forget to check out...

To School a Cowboy

***Thanks, Susan! I'm ready to read these tales!!! ~Skhye