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Here's something most writers know intuitively, but bears repeating: Make friends with lots of people from lots of backgrounds. You never know when it will come in handy for your book.

For example, I needed to know how to drug a cat in the early 19th C. I'm not a cat person, so I have no first hand experience to draw on. However, a frequent guest at our home is a veterinary student who's also a cat owner. She got back to me right away with the information that a century ago about a milliliter of laudanum would be administered to sedate cats. You can also use small amounts of alcohol (Kids, don't try this at home! It's purely for research purposes).

I love it when research and writing come together so neatly.

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