Madeline Turnipseed - Author

As part of my research for Head Games, I've been reading into what my psychologist/psychiatrist team would be doing for our heroes. The Writer's Guide to Psychology by Dr. Carolyn Kaufman has been really helpful in this aspect.  Sadly, she passed away a few years ago , but her work remains an excellent resource.  She explains things in ways people with no training would understand, but doesn't dumb it down so much that you're bored if you have some knowledge of psychology. Even if you're not a writer, but just a fan of mental health issues and disorders in pop culture, you might enjoy this book.  Kaufman includes examples, both good and bad, from popular media (up to publication in 2010), always with explanations of what it would look like in real life. There are extensive explanations of the most common mental health disorders, broken down into related sections.  This helps keep similar disorders separate  (like schizophrenia vs. schizo-affective)...

Happy Friday!! Today I went to the Houston Zoo  and spent about 3 hours in the Reptile House as part of my research for Spitfire .  Special thanks to keepers Monty and Greg who were gracious enough to answer questions and make suggestions.  They were happy to humor me, even if they were a bit bemused at the idea of dragon people. I have lots of pictures so I'll just post those and talk about what I particularly liked from each of these animals.  I went to get some questions answered but also to watch some behavior and get ideas for possible physical attributes to include.  Please forgive the pictures, I like my camera because it fits in my purse, not because it makes me an amazing photographer.  Also I refrained from using flash so I didn't freak out the animals.  And I have shaky hands.  And these are through glass.  Anyway, consider yourself warned. Ricord's Anole - I liked this one for the white around the eye, highlights the eye ...

Happy Friday!  This is my first research post for my project Spitfire .  Click here if you have no idea what I'm talking about. One of the things I learned when I met Mary Robinette Kowal and Marie Brennan on their book tour was to start wide when doing research and progressively narrow in on your subject of interest.  (Read more about the signing  here .)  If you've ever used a compound microscope, you know that you have to start at the lowest magnification, bring the sample into focus, and repeat at every successive magnification as you increase in power until you reach your desired point.  Research is like that. This week I have been reading The Refinement of America: Persons, Houses, Cities  by Richard L. Bushman .  One good thing about living in a college town is that used bookstores are full of educational books just like this one that someone had to buy for one class and then only opened once (seriously, there is only underlining on o...

Hello friends! Today is the 15th day of NaNoWriMo (halfway!), current wordcount is 22,323.  Yes, I'm a bit behind. I'm doing another research post today to let you in on some of the cool ways I've been thinking about my world.  My Neif are placed (rather poorly) in a swamp somewhere in the southeastern portion of the US. While this creates obvious water/temperature problems for them, as people made out of sugar, it also means they come into contact with an amazing array of plant and animal life.  (If the sugar thing is throwing you, you can check out my earlier research post about some of the science behind the magic of the Neif here .) I found a really great site,  http://www.wild-lab.com/ , which was developed by the Audubon Nature Institute and is used as an educational tool for fifth through seventh graders about Louisiana wetlands.  If you click "Go Through Curriculum As Guest" you can still access all the information without having a login.  V...

Hello Friends! Today is the 1st day of NaNoWriMo , my current wordcount is 395. I have some great news! Thursday, October 24th at 6:51 pm, I finally got to THE END of my NaNoWriMo project for last year!  Heck yes I looked at the clock, it was an important moment.  The bad news is, I had a week to finish prepping for my NaNo project for this year.  So I thought I'd talk about some of the research I've been doing, since I was spending time doing it anyway, and then you guys get a little flavor of what my story will be like this year. Most of my characters in this story are a humanoid race called The Neif.  They are about eight inches tall, made of sugar, and their bodies are the consistency of taffy.  Now, normally I would like to make my own taffy to get a literally hands-on experience, but unfortunately, time does not permit.  Maybe after the madness that is November. Here is a really simple taffy recipe. The Neif don't wear clothes.  I m...