Yes, It's Research. Really.

Writers...research.

It's what we do. To tell about a time or place we've never been takes researching until we are as well acquainted with that subject as we are our own time. We must be able to see that place in our minds to write it in terms so that our readers can see it too.

That research can show up in any form, at any place. Yes, I'm really doing research when I insist on tasting every flavor of taffy when it says it was made the same way they made it in the 1800's. It's research when I need to hold that hand stitched lace because I can't describe what it feels like when my heroine's mother makes all the lace on a wedding dress if I don't know what it feels like. And it's research when I need to go to every frontier festival, living history museum, and stagecoach festival that comes within driving distance.

Oh...

And all those Christian fiction books on my bookshelf...

They're research too.

Really.