The thing is that is the only time I ever played!
All my roommates and I joined up with a bunch of guys at a nearby park to play. As we divided into teams, I kept trying to tell them I’d never played, but no one would listen. As the team I was on formed a huddle, I finally got our captain to understand I knew nothing about the game.
He pointed out one of my larger roommates and told me all I had to do was keep from her passing our scrimmage line.
Okay.
I still wasn’t sure I could do it. This girl was taller and broader than my then less than five feet, 125 pounds body. But I lined up with the rest of my team directly across the field from said roommate.
When everyone started running forward, I took a couple of steps, planted my feet firmly in place, and then held my arm out to my side, the side for which she was aiming.
As she got to my arm, I put my whole body into moving my arm in front of me.
Within seconds she was flat on her back at my feet, staring up at me totally stunned I managed that.
My team captain yelled, “We’re playing tag football not tackle!”
I faced him and said, “You said stop her; I stopped her!”
My roommate spent the rest of the evening commenting on how I was stronger than I looked.
She was probably glad I stopped playing because soon after that my hip started bothering me and I sat down on the sidelines for the rest of the game.
I’ve never played football again. But some years later I came across a booklet titled “A Football Widow’s Handbook” which I studied thoroughly because my husband was into watching the sport.
Nowadays, anytime Konnie needs any information related to football for a story of hers, she asks me.
I lost that booklet decades ago, and I lost my husband over a decade ago, so it’s been at least that long since I’ve watched a football game, but Konnie still turns to me for such information.
Though it’s been a while since she’s asked me about football. More recently she asked me about makes of cars and their sizes. You know, to be more specific in her story. In other words, telling the types of vehicles wasn’t going to cut it.
Good thing I have a computer. I just looked up some of the makes I could think of. Konnie couldn’t come up with any.
So, I guess I do know cars better than she does but let’s keep in mind I have one story where the two main characters are auto mechanics. And boy did I have I have to do quite a bit of research for that!
Of course, I’ve also got one where the female lead is a pilot. And yes, I did a lot of research for that one too.
Now I’m working on my sci-fi and I had to do a lot of research, more than any of the rest.
I had to look up military ranks because the hero is in the military. But I also had to research the Greek Alphabet and study how fables were written for my backstory for the series which is an ancient fable for the world I’ve built. I did write the fable.
Then I also had to look into things like kings and their heirs, because that plays a role in my story, and for good measure, I looked up ranks of nobility.
Let’s not forget looking up a bit of science so my solar system I’m making up works!
Yeah, I’ve done more research for my sci-fi than I’ve ever done for any of my contemporary romances.
But then when I’m not researching, I have also done a lot of drawing up floor plans for the characters' homes, and for my Moose Creek series, I have a file on the family groups, including birth and marriage dates, and another file of who graduated in what year from the local high school. I also have the genealogy of the main family in that series, back several generations. I also have a file on family groups for my speculative fiction. Yeah, I take lots of notes.
As I write a story, I note character names, ages, and whatever else I need to remember, including my research notes.
How about you?
Happy writing all!
