Researching is a very important stage of writing a book. It usually happens before the first page is even written, before the first images fly out of one's imagination.

Currently, I am 3/4's the way through the research of my next novel "The Condemned." This novel takes me back to my roots, which is writing creepy, supernatural thrillers. The slogan for the book is: "Obsessions - Poltergeists - Possessions."

The research has taken me across the web, and without writing a chapter I am scared shitless. The research has given me nightmares, keeps me jittery at the slightest sounds, which all makes for great fodder for the book. It's a small price to pay to write something which I am calling a cross between "The Exorcist" and "The Amityville Horror."

The story's setting takes place in Half Moon Bay, along the coast south of San Francisco. Anyone familiar with the area will know that the area is cold, balmy and foggy ... the perfect setting for supernatural hijinks. It's also the site of a ghost town, a long-forgotten village that disappeared almost overnight, where all that is left is a snake-infested cemetary and dilapidated school house ... in this world, however, there's also the almost forgotten church.

I'm very excited to begin this terrible journey ... it is one that will lead to a trilogy starring the same priest. I will begin writing the trilogy, which I will only name as "X" at this point, sometime in 2008 and hope to finish it by 2010.

I'm shivering now, but I don't know if it's from excitement or fear...