I think I have the best hubby ever. He’s my biggest supporter. He just gets me.

I selected a small town in northwest Pennsylvania as a model location for the novel I’m writing. It was easier for me to “see” the characters in the town if I had an actual place to work with. I researched the high school, the hospital, various businesses and the streets and houses in the real town. I found houses for sale online and looked at images of the interiors and exteriors. I made those houses the houses where my main characters live.

To help with the visualization, my hubby suggested a day trip (or an overnight trip) to look around the real town. I’m not much of a traveler and usually resist going anywhere, but doing research for my book sounded like a fun and interesting idea.

We stayed at a nice bed and breakfast located not too far away from the model for my fictional town.  We ended up driving around and through my model town, and I got to photograph various locations. I took pictures of the high school, various stores, businesses and streets. We went to the houses I had found for my characters to live in. The house I selected for my hero has since been purchased so I was careful when photographing that one. I didn’t want someone calling the cops about this crazy lady taking cell phone pictures of their new home. We had a meal at the Applebee’s in town, and we stopped at the Wal-Mart – all things my characters would do.

I think I have the best hubby ever, and I loved that he indulged his silly writer wife as she gawked around at a small town not all that different from where we live in upstate New York. I certainly could have used my imagination to create the settings I needed, but then I wouldn’t have had this great weekend away with the man I love.