Steppin' Out

Well, I did something as a writer I've never done before: I interviewed a practitioner of my main character's profession as background research for my novel, "A Double Yellow Line". My main character, Blake, is a successful personal and executive coach. Although I have a lot to draw on personally for painting the character, I wanted to interview some professionals. I checked the phone book, but no one was listed, which didn't surprise me in this smaller area where I live. But there are business consultants, so I called a few of them. They all had answering machines where I left messages, except one gentleman answered his phone, and we chatted for 15 minutes or so.

I told him I was doing research for a novel and that I wanted to interview some personal coaches, and did he know anyone I could call? He referred me to Eileen, a woman he knew (and thought highly of) in San Francisco, and he gave me a number to reach her. I called the number, left a message, and promptly forgot about it. That was last week.

To my shock yesterday morning, the phone rang and it was her! She was between meetings, but was able to give me ten minutes at least. So I asked Eileen a few of the prepared questions I had, we chatted, and because I still had more questions, she invited me to call her again in the afternoon when she had more time. I did so, and we had a really nice conversation for about thirty minutes, talking about her and her profession. She was really nice, helpful, and insightful. And when we finished up, she gave me the number of a colleague to call for additional perspective. So I'll follow up with him today or next week.

Anyway, it was really cool to get some real-world feedback on some of my fictional ideas, and I am so grateful to Eileen for giving me so much time and help. Thanks, Eileen!

And with that, I've completed 5.5 hours towards my goal of 50 hours of editing in March. (Yeah, I'm a little behind...)