Finally starting to crawl out from my research-mode cave. I averaged 7 hours a day in Young Library, as I researched everything from Hebrew undergarments, circa 600 C BCE to Assyrian battle tactics. I am now prepared to face down any Assyrians who aim for my village walls. They won't approach head on, but at an angle. Each chariot will hold at least three soldiers--the driver, the bowman, and a third soldier who carries a large shield to protect all of them.
Amazing the number of essential issues I intuited while I wrote the early drafts. Members of a writers' group I attended for a while tore into me because Judith is friends with her maidservant Abra. I'll fix it later, I told myself. This is just so I can get rolling with and complete the draft.
Guess what? Turns out the Hebrews were the only people who considered slaves members of the family in most ways except inheritance. Who knew? Not me. Not until last Wednesday at a sunny table in the Young Library reference section. Every day offered me at least one similar miracle, the joy of research combined with the benefits of sitting down and really listening to my characters before I started each new chapter over the last year or so.
I love research, not for its own sake but for what it confirms in the realm of intuition, and for how it brings the past alive, not just on the page . . . but for me.