Top 5 Behind-the-Scenes Research Facts about The Rescue

Today I thought I’d share my top five behind-the-scenes research facts about The Rescue. Hope you enjoy! 😊

• ​​1) After an American Christian Writers Conference (ACFW) in St. Louis, Missouri, I visited the Museum of Westward Expansion. All the exhibits were wonderful, but my favorite was seeing an actual stagecoach. I was so fascinated; I took over 20 pictures and let my imagination run wild. In the early stages of writing, the stagecoach was originally the main way of transportation in The Rescue, but while I was there, I decided to use the coach in the second book in the series instead. ​

• ​2) There were many other things I researched, but one especially was horses. I knew little about horses so I contacted a stable and asked if I could visit once a week. The owner agreed and every Friday I would help him feed the horses, muck the stalls, spread out the hay--really whatever he showed me to do, I did it. I’d pelt him with questions about anything and everything that dealt with horses and caring for them. He was the one who suggested I use colic for one of my scenes and then lent me a book on the topic of colic in horses.

• ​​3) My research for The Rescue led me to eBay on several occasions in search of books to better help me understand and visualize people, places, and things. I asked my husband in passing to find me a mid to late 1800’s book on eBay. I didn’t care what it was, but something having to do with Boston since this is where the first of the series begins. To my surprise, not only did he buy one, but he also purchased three McGuffey books, the Eclectic Primer (Copyright 1867), Eclectic Spelling Book (Copyright 1865), and Second Eclectic Reader (Copyright 1867).

• ​​4) One of the stumbling blocks to writing this story was I couldn’t visualize the grandness of the Easton’s estate in Boston. I needed to see the type of home they possibly lived in so I took a trip to North Carolina to see the Biltmore. The visit certainly helped me to understand the time period.

• ​​5) The last behind-the-scenes look at The Rescue focuses on food, biscuits to be exact. I had mentioned to my husband that I wished I knew how to make homemade biscuits for my story (My heroine has a difficult time making them). The idea took hold, and it wasn’t long before we started making homemade biscuits together.