Monday, April 01, 2013

Researching medical matters--and more


Since I write the Safe Harbor Medical miniseries for Harlequin American, I make a point of keeping up with research and other developments affecting fertility, babies, births and other medical issues.

In looking over the research files I kept for my March release, The Baby Jackpot, I found that I’d also searched the Internet about the city of Minneapolis (my hero’s hometown) and how to treat a knee injury as well as egg donations, male fertility and nurses in the operating room.

Although some of the research is simple, some of my files get rather long. The male fertility file (my hero specializes in the field) contains sixteen sections. The one on causes and risk factors for infertility has six subsections.

You might assume that I love doing research. Well, not always. I am very interested in medical subjects, however, and I’m incredibly grateful for the Internet. When I began selling novels thirty years ago, I had to call up professionals in various fields and presume upon their kindness to answer my questions.

I once called the local coroner’s office to find out how you could poison someone and make it look like an accident. Might have gotten myself arrested, but fortunately, I found someone willing to accept my explanation that I’m an author—and to provide an answer. The information was for my supernatural murder mystery Echoes, now available as an ebook.

Speaking of ebooks, I’ve recently redesigned a couple of covers for my revised and re-released books. This is a learning process, and reader reactions and sales teach me a lot. You might call it a different kind of research.

Every month, I offer a special ebook deal. In April, complete with a new cover, the Kindle and Nook editions of Unlikely Partners are only 99 cents at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Thanks for reading! 
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4 comments:

Jo said...

Thought you were doing the A to Z, obviously not. Thanks for dropping by to my blog, nice to see you there. See you have Captcha, most of bloggers don't use it any more as it is very aggravating for commenters.

JO ON FOOD, MY TRAVELS AND A SCENT OF CHOCOLATE

Sharla Rae said...

I love research, historical that is esp. when it has to with women in history. I can see how the medical stuff gets complicated though. At times it's way over my head. :) Then I have to find someone to put it layman terms. :)

Carrie Butler said...

Oh my goodness. It's difficult to explain half of the things we research, isn't it? :)

Tara Tyler said...

reserch is necessary and i love learning new things! enhances the story and my brain!