My name is Melissa and I’m a Research-a-holic.
On Monday a letter arrived in my mailbox, proudly emblazoned with “United States Census 2010.” I have to admit, I was so excited I almost [almost] ran back into the house! I fixed myself a cup of tea, took my wonderful envelope and retired to my office, where I totally cleaned off my desk in anticipation of opening my Census form up and getting started.
The fact that it was a really thin envelope should have been a clue…
What it actually ended up being was a letter telling me that in about a week, we’d be receiving our 2010 Census forms.
*Very Deep Sigh*
Okay… so I’m weird. I love that once every ten years Census thing. I suspect my excitement about the form stems from the genealogy research I’ve done on my family. Seriously, I found more information about my ancestors from census records than almost any other single form of documentation.
And that’s not all I found… I also found an abiding love for history AND for research!
I was never a huge history fan in school. The classes were okay. There was an occasional interesting fact that would grab my attention. But, for the most part, I learned those facts and dates for the tests and promptly dumped all that information from my brain immediately after handing in the exam.
Until I began to dabble in genealogy… until I found the census records.
All of a sudden, finding my ancestors’ names and the tidbits of information contained on the census records brought history to life for me. For the first time, I WANTED to know about the Civil War [I had ancestors on both sides], the War of 1812 [my great, great, great grandfather was drafted!], and the Revolutionary War [again, family on both sides...and some who switched sides to avoid hanging!].
It was genealogy that inspired my first trip to Scotland. And it was Scotland that inspired me to write.
By the time I started writing the first book in my Daughters of the Glen series, I was a confirmed research fanatic. In fact, I still have to rein myself in with each book or I’d spend so much time on research, I’d never meet a deadline!
All thanks to the Census. Now, when the census forms arrive at my house, I don’t see them as a chore. I see them as my connection to future generations of my family who will one day be searching for clues about THEIR ancestors. I see them as a vehicle that will turn one of my great, great, grandchildren on to a love of history and research. And who knows? Maybe she’ll even be a writer!
What about you? What hobbies [or should I say “obsessions” ?] do you have that have spilled over from your ‘real’ life to your writing?
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Melissa Mayhue is the author of the award-winning Daughters of the Glen series — paranormal time travel romances set in the Scottish Highlands, filled with Faerie Magic and happy ever afters. You can read excerpts from all her books and learn more about her writing at www.MelissaMayhue.com.
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Melissa, you crack me up! I was totally psyched about the census too! Have been since the commercials started infiltrating our television. I CAN”T WAIT! lol I’m a research aholic too, bookaholic, internet aholic…. My husband the other day was making fun of me, pretend typing on a computer (at the kitchen table) and saying “Dear Fellow Bloggers… today I….” it was just hilarious! HUGS!
Hey… Maybe we come from a common gene pool somewhere generations back!!!
~ Melissa
lol, maybe so!
I was totally excited when I got the Census envelope today, thought about you, and remembered it was very slim and would just be the letter, not to run to my desk, lol
HI Melissa!
LOL When my hubby got the mail and saw that tiny letter, he was ticked. Oh, my penny-pinchin’ man. He was mentally adding up how money it cost to send everyone that little memo instead of the real thing. Men!
We’re both looking forward to filling one out. It will be our first. We were both students when the last one came around, so our parents were the ones doing the writing. LOL I feel so grown up!! *wink wink*
I think that is so cool you were able to find some much info from the census. You dazzled me with that tidbit!
Okay, Sarah…to be fair… as soon as I realized what I had in my hand was NOT the census, but just a warning that the census was coming [and AFTER I got over being irritated about it not being the actual census!], my reaction was very similar to your husbands’. What are they thinking sending out double postage??? But then I remembered that the post office is in big trouble and thinking of cutting the delivery days down to four or five to try to make up monetary losses and it occurred to me that perhaps this was, in a way, like a little stimulus money being funneled the post office’s direction – helping them keep postal employees working. [Yes, thank you... I DO try to positively rationalize EVERYTHING!!!] hehehe….
Any family tree produces some lemons, some nuts and a few bad apples