Tooting My Own Horn

On your next visit to the library, see if they have a copy of Learning Through History magazine. The January issue is all about Vikings and my article "Runes of Mystery and Knowledge" is inside.

For writers, history books or magazines aimed at children are often a great resource for research. Oftentimes they are written at a level that makes it easy to absorb the information you seek without wading through pages of dense material in a history book aimed at adults or the academic market. Second, this article came about because I happened to be doing research on the Norse gods for a story. I had already done a great deal of reading on runes, so when I learned that the magazine's upcoming issue would be based on Vikings and they were seeking articles, I had the material at hand. You might be surprised how many freelance articles you can come up with based on research you are doing for your own writing.

--Patrizia