The questions below are the most common ones that I am asked at book clubs and general chatting with others about my books or writing in general. I hope you find your answers here. 

Q. Do you have a blog?

A. Nope. I tried to blog several years ago and found that it was like housesitting a neighbor’s puppy... cute, attention draining, and a lot of talking to yourself. So, I decided to end my fretting and fussing over my brief blog-fest and leave that form of writing to those who have something interesting to say on a regular basis and who do it far better than I ever will. If you want to see the few meager offerings, they remain just a click away under my name on the Amazon page for any of my books. Also, I am an awful Facebooker who does not respond to Messenger messages.

Q. Your books are rich in detail and technically accurate. How do you research your books?
A. I dive deep into formal research and hands-on experiences, when possible.

Some research ideas arise from my attention being captured like a squirrel by some bright and shining object, not yet knowing what it is. I call this the “squirrely” impression and start of research. Once I have the rough idea in mind, or an actual object of interest in hand, I can dig into its what and why. If it is sufficiently interesting to sustain months of research and writing, then I go deeper. In Baldwin, the object was an actual portolano, which as you know is an ancient mariner’s map, made by a ship’s captain to chart his secret trade route. This was the same as a trade secret today in that age before mapmaking was commercial and while secret trade routes were the key financial success. 

The second technique is “dumpster diving”. When I have a very general idea of something interesting, or some question continues to pester me, I start poking around in random primary sources. As one example, I found out that James Hemings was contracted out to another landowner as a riding valet while Jefferson was away from Monticello. This is not documented in any of his official “histories”. Only by reading the letter from the landowner who “rented” his services complimenting James on being an excellent valet. It is missing from the usual farm logs where the “rent” for his services should have been entered. There’s the old joke about the kid who wants a pony for his birthday and when he sees an empty stable, he tossed up the straw and muck yelling, “I know there’s a pony in here somewhere”. So, it is with some dumpster diving research, some days you get a pony, other days the leftovers. 

After the general idea for a book and early research point to more rigorous and targeted areas of inquiry, the hunt begins. Primary sources include diaries, letters, newspapers and journals and public records of that time. These should be as raw as possible  without the intervention of others interpreting the material. If it is a modern area of interest, interviews with those who have lived in the time period or worked in the field under investigation are gold. Secondary sources include reading modern histories or technical journals on the topic, interviews with subject matter experts on the historical period. Some research can be hands-on to get the sensory experience such as taking a few violin lessons, navigating Paris with a street map from the 1780s, cooking out of historical cookbooks, going onboard a tall ship for a sail, seeing how rope is spliced and tarred, or tanning a hide, cutting a quill, or making ink from a gall nut. Then some research will uncover another point for inquiry or lead you to a new document that no one else has had the privilege of examining. Today, more and more research can be done online as libraries and universities digitize collections that have been vetted for accuracy. Through it all, libraries of all sorts, in several countries, and the most fabulous librarians and archivists have helped me in ways proving their hearts are as big as their brains.

Q. Where do you get the ideas for your books? 

A. Each of my books had its own specific creation story. Here is the inside scoop:

JEFFERSON’S CHEF: JAMES HEMINGS - FROM SLAVERY TO FREEDOM (2020): 

I had the opportunity to visit Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello plantation first as a child living in Virginia and learned the usual simplistic version of his life. During later visits as an adult, I began to question the more complex aspects the plantation and Jefferson’s relationship to the enslaved. When I began writing full time in 2005, my interest in James and our culinary history grew. I wanted to know more on the culinary contribution so often attributed to Jefferson.  

I dropped into a rabbit hole of research as soon as I discovered that Jefferson took his enslaved manservant, James Hemings, to Paris and used James to introduce both French cooking techniques, dishes and technology that moved Americans from hearth cooking to upright stove and oven cooking, and freed him unconditionally. Most importantly, I felt that this was James’ story, not Jefferson’s to tell.

Research on an enslaved man is challenging, even for one who was literate. I found references to him in Jefferson’s “farm book” in which he dutifully recorded plantation activities and inventories and in letters to and by Jefferson as other primary sources. At one point I had considered writing a history of Mr. Hemings. As fascinating as his life was, reliable documentation had so many gaps that I decided to fill in those gaps with my imagined biography of this exceptional man and write what Toni Morrison said to do- “Write the book you want to read”.  I am honored to tell what is true of his life and share what I imagined of his considerable character and wisdom. I hope that my book will encourage others to continue to search for more information on Mr. Hemings and someday publish a well-documented history of this important man who for so long has been but a shadow.

THE PARIS DRAFT - THE ROAD BACK FROM DEMENTIA (2019): 

While I was in Paris doing research on Jefferson’s Chef, several notions collided: writer’s block and the function of memory, communication and innocent miscommunication in new romances, and the glory of Paris. Writing about the creative and editorial process was a lot of fun. Second, and more importantly, was the fact that not all forms of what appear to be memory loss or confusion are correctly self-diagnosed. The failure of seeking medical attention early into any memory loss or confusion can be tragic when a proper diagnosis could correct or slow the progression of this devastating condition. I always hope that many readers will enjoy the tales I spin, but with this book, I carry an added hope that someone somewhere would pipe up and get a loved one or themselves to a doctor early enough to reverse or mitigate memory loss. 

THE BALDWIN PORTOLANO (2013):  

This treasure hunt and spy story set in World War I tangles a British linguist with what we now know as post-traumatic stress with two unlikely Americans: a rich oil magnate and a female physician. The inspiration came from a Vitamix of whirled up influences including, not in any order, an interest in old sailing and early trade routes, mapmaking, archeology, post-traumatic stress, how small accidents of time or place turn the great cogs of history, how empathy and compassion can emerge from unexpected places, early aviation in WWI, France, and a feeble effort to translate Beowulf from Old English. Then there are the characters! What fun it was to envision one of the first American female physicians as part of an unlikely superhero trio with the polar opposites of a poor English linguist and an absurdly wealthy American oil magnate as they save England and turn the tide of the war.

THE ENGLISH RENDITION (2012) – Visiting Prague, I overheard a conversation about the ongoing negotiations for the return of funds hidden in Swiss Banks to the heirs of the owners who died in the Holocaust. While visiting the Pincus Synagogue the next day I paused to read many of the names on a memorial wall and was shocked to see a familiar name - that of an older woman who had been a neighbor many years before. I began wondering what might happen if people traded places to save another, or a child, and how families might chance anything for their children’s lives and how fierce motherhood is. 

VIETNAM THE WAR ZONE DICTIONARY IN THEIR OWN WORDS (2016)

This is NOT fiction. Its gestation was even longer than Jefferson’s Chef’s 15 years as it began as a handwritten three-page glossary in 1970 for my fellow Probation Officers. Recently returned Vietnam vets were going through the justice system and their interviews were so slang laden that we need to decode the slang to fully understand them. I was a military brat and could translate for them. Days to months to years, the list grew and became almost a hobby for myself and several vets who were friends to find new slang, document it and send it to me. While the need for that slang is no longer relevant in day to day justice system operations, our compilation came to be of interest to a local historian who suggested that I formalize the notes into a slang dictionary. I did and found that there were several much smaller slang collections, but none that included the official terminology used by the military. Thinking that this would be an important addition to a reference work for future historians to use in understanding military orders, briefings, and after-action reports, I contacted the governments of the NATO, CENTO, and other allies in that war and compiled those official military terms by user nation and military organization.  

Q. Do you ever get writer’s block?

A. No. I work on several projects at a time, so if I get stuck on the creation of a scene for one book, I just go to another project to edit it or a third project to research something. I find that this is about the only time when ignoring a problem (temporarily) tends to let it simmer while my subconscious solves it by the time I return. Caution: This is not a good strategy for doing the grown-up parts of life like paying bills or tending to the garden.

Q. What is your typical routine for writing?

A. In general, I try to do the “creative” parts of the work, like free-writing, scene construction, character building, plot development in the early morning until the momentum starts to drag. Then I move to the “business” parts of research or editing. I try to reserve afternoons and evenings for the things that normal people do like gardening and seeing friends. I also enjoy an eclectic range of cooking challenges from historical and molecular cuisine and continuing my exploration of the world of wines particularly those of France and California with friends.