Research and fact checking

I got some work done on my novel yesterday for the first time in nearly a week.  The week before was productive, however, since I had the week off... at least, it was productive until my husband dropped my computer last Sunday night.  The computer still works, thank heavens, but two of the tabs holding the keyboard in broke off, so it pops up in one corner now.  So after that, I spent a good portion of Sunday and Monday during the day looking for new parts for my (8-year-old) computer and talking to the repair shop I use.

I ordered the new parts for my computer and they arrived yesterday, so I will be taking it in to be repaired this week -- hopefully tomorrow afternoon.  I am hoping it will only take a day or two for them to put the new housing and keyboard on.  I guess the timing isn't terrible because I've been spending a lot of time on research and fact checking lately.  While I was working on revisions during my week off, I came across notes to myself about needing to do some research so that I could get the details of Ruby's job right: work hours, pay, conditions, and that sort of thing.  I found a couple of library books about women's working conditions in the 20s, plus several about the history of Sears, Roebuck and Co. (Ruby's employer).  I've found a lot of good information, stuff I needed to know.

My approach with the revisions is that I am trying to take care of everything on a page before I turn to the next one.  Remember, I spent the last several months marking revisions on a hard copy of the manuscript -- now I am going through it and making the revisions.  It's more than just making revisions, though: I also made lots of notes for myself regarding things I needed to research and/or fact check.  So right now I am stuck on page 21 until I get the information I need.  I could just skip it and move on... but I am afraid that I will forget to come back, or that it will turn into another round of revisions, and another, and ANOTHER.  If you don't do things while it's on your mind, there's no telling when they will get done.

I am enjoying the research, though.  I found some extremely helpful books, and I'm slowly but surely gathering the information I needed.  I think I'll be able to get going on revisions soon, perhaps as soon as I get the laptop back from the repair shop.