Hello readers,

I’ve been struggling to find the time recently to fall back into my writing. I miss it. Words and stories occupy my mind. My fingers yearn to feel the tension of the keys. It’s that niggling feeling that keeps beneath your skin and makes you feel discontented whilst trying to relax and enjoy a movie, or while folding laundry that’s been sitting in a basket at the foot of the bed for two days. It eats at you as you work through the tasks and routines most adults find themselves performing in an endless, mindless cycle.

Words come together and form stories in the mind and long to be put onto paper. But how does anyone while balancing family, work, and household tasks find the time to commit words to paper?

What it truly boils down to is that you must make time for it. Writing, though certainly a simple hobby for many, must be treated like a business by anyone who wishes to become an author. It’s an investment of time and resources. And perhaps not financial resources, but resources of the mind and soul. It’s a commitment.

If life becomes too busy, but you suffer the need to write and time won’t allow, you have to make the time. That’s all it is. Rather than spending an hour in the evening watching television, spend that hour writing. Wake up a half hour earlier and write. Take your laptop, tablet, or phone on you lunch break and get words on the paper as you hastily scarf down your food.

That’s what I shall have to do. I can’t exactly sacrifice my sleep because I need to be well rested for work or risk jeopardizing my career with mistakes made of a semi-conscious mind. So, what I must do is exchange the time I would normally spend doing something else, like watching a movie, with writing.

It’s a balancing act. Every piece of what I endeavor to do revolves around calculating a balance.

That balance, or ability to attempt a balance, doesn’t stop at just the time spent writing versus other things. It extends to my research which is where my conundrum begins.

Though I miss writing in general, I find myself falling into deep chasms of thought for Justice Gone Awry. I’ll operate under the presumption that if anyone should be reading this blog at all, that they first have read my page on current projects where I go into a bit more detail on what that project is about.

Due to the nature of nonfiction, there is a tremendous amount of research that has already been done and there is likely more details, information, and stories, that I have yet to gather.

Researchers tend to fall into a particular trap at least once in their career, but I’d be willing to bet that most fall into it many times as they hone their skills and learn to rely on intuition. The trap is this: Where is the line between too much research and not enough?

Over the years, I’ve developed a system for gathering and interpreting the data I collect to best determine this metaphorical line in the sand. It’s certainly true that I still fall victim to endless rabbit holes and red herrings that waste time and effort, but over the years I’ve gotten better at recognizing when I’m headed down a path that will yield little benefit.

When conducting research, it’s plausible that you will come across something that on its surface looks like it might be important, so naturally, you follow the trail only to discover that it’s simply not and has potentially been a massive waste of time. Maybe it was an interesting detour, but it was a detour, nonetheless. 

For J.G.A., I have several research inquiries. I’m researching police in the 1980s. What equipment was standard, what methods of interrogation/investigation did they use, what was it like to be a beat cop in a midsized city. I’m researching crime rates and demographics. Through that, I’m analyzing arrest and conviction rates. I’m also researching a specific case handled by the department I’m trying to learn more about. This case was a murder case where an individual was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder which makes it relatively unique.

I have already dug through archives, looking at department documents, photographs, newspaper articles, and the like. I have a list of individuals whom I’d like to interview which presents a whole host of unique challenges.

More than anything, I want to gather stories. I want to learn what it was like for the officers, and I’d like to learn what it was like to be a resident in that city during that time. Only by gathering these stories will I have a grasp strong enough to proceed.

Unfortunately, gathering firsthand accounts becomes exceedingly difficult with the passage of time. In this case I’m looking at the passing of some forty-years. It’s reasonable to say that I’ll be fortunate to find any key players that are still living. Regrettably, I’ve already had to cross a number of names off my list because I’ve missed the opportunity to even request an interview.

I have thousands of legal documents that I have combed through in the research I have conducted thus far. Arrest records, court pleadings, depositions, etc. which have provided a wealth of information. However, with standardized language and procedure, they lack the original voice that I long to find.

Since many months have passed since I worked on J.G.A., I am presented with the annoying realization that I have forgotten many of the details. I took notes on everything and did a superb job categorizing my data which should make the process of getting back up to speed a bit easier, but I still have to go back and remind myself what all I had found. Then pick up where I left off.

That’s the trouble with knowledge and research. We remember things for a time, but if we step away long enough, it’s very much like starting all over again. I stepped away from my project longer than I had anticipated, but it was necessary so that I could focus on more pressing matters.

I won’t be starting for scratch luckily. But mentally and emotionally, I feel as though I may as well be.

So, here’s to hoping that I’ll be able to jump back into my research without too many setbacks and get to a point where I can actually begin writing.