Know any young readers/writers who are curious about the research that goes into writing a novel? The wonderful YAReviewNet asked me to write an article about it. It would be an understatement to stay I was NOT a born researcher.  Here is the opening of the article. You can follow the link at the end of the passage below, or go straight to the article here!

How I Went From Hating Research to Loving It
I was minding my own business the day the wolves barged into my apartment, demanding that I write about them.  I was thinking about dogs, and how amazing it is that we have such a close relationship with them. I had recently read "The Botany of Desire," in which Michael Pollan discusses plant evolution and its effect on human evolution.  That's when a little voice in my head said, "I want to write about how the wolf evolved into the dog from the wolf's point of view."

I wrote about ten pages, and realized that I knew almost nothing about wolves and even less about ancient times.  I began to resist the story.  I hated research.  It  was boring and I was no good at it.  I'd find something else to write.

Resistance was futile; the wolves wanted their story told. I found myself in the Natural Sciences section of a bookstore  holding a book called "The Wolf Almanac" by Robert Busch. A few minutes later "People of the Earth: An Introduction to Prehistory" by Brian Fagan leapt into my hands.  Read the rest here!