Destination Is Not the Point. It's the Method.

Destination isn’t the point of research travel. It’s the method that shapes how writers observe, think, and write.

Why Creative Research Can't Always Happen at Your Desk

Creative research is inquiry shaped by curiosity, not checklists. It's discovering what you didn't know you needed to know—and sometimes that kind of discovery can't happen at your desk.

Travel Isn't Research Until You Slow Down

Travel becomes research when you slow down long enough to understand how a place works, not just what it looks like.

Walking in My Grandmother's Footsteps: My Experience with Research Travel

Census records told me where my grandmother lived. Walking the neighborhood told me what it meant. This is the story of researching a novel about my grandmother's life in 1930s Knoxville — and why I had to go there to write it.