Lisa Gold: Research Maven

Who I Am

  • I am a freelance researcher, writer, and editor.
  • I teach classes on creative research for writers, most recently at the Clarion West Writers Workshop and Richard Hugo House. My next scheduled class will be at Richard Hugo House on Sunday, October 25th (details to come).
  • I am a rare book expert with over twenty years of experience in all aspects of the business.
  • I graduated from Cornell University with Bachelor of Arts degrees in English and Chemistry.
  • I am a member of the Northwest Independent Editors Guild.
  • I live in Seattle with my husband, novelist Matt Ruff.

What writers are saying about my blog:

Cory Doctorow blogged on BoingBoing:

Fantastic research blog
Lisa Gold, an extraordinary researcher with deep ties to science fiction (she conducted research for Neal Stephenson’s Baroque Trilogy and is married to the wonderful comedic sf/f writer Matt Ruff, author of the newly paperback-published Bad Monkeys) has launched a public blog where she’s keeping track of her research notes. I have a love-hate relationship with book research, so it’s amazing to see someone really good at it at work.
Kelley Eskridge blogged:
On Lisa Gold’s new research blog, you’ll learn that Samuel Johnson didn’t actually say “The next best thing to knowing something is knowing where to find it.” Although he should have, it’s a lot more pithy that what he did actually say… which you can read for yourself in Lisa’s post.

If you’re a writer, or a research junkie, check out the blog and get in on the ground floor — there is already a pile of useful information, with the promise of much more to come. Lisa is a research specialist with years of experience and a lot of good pointers for finding those needles in the great big haystack of the internet. Next time I don’t know where to find something, I’m betting that she will.

Justine Larbalestier blogged:

A really cool resource for online research is research maven Lisa Gold’s blog. Go read, enjoy!

Carlos Hernandez blogged:

Here is a link to a fabulous freelance researcher and writer: Lisa Gold… And personally, already her site has paid off in research gold for me, thanks to her links to links to Jim Martindale’s miscellany of science and technology links, and Deb’s historical research page, both of which are filled to bursting with the kind of information writers might take months to uncover on their own. Lisa (can I call you Lisa?) also has some just plain good advice for writers. I’ve half a mind to print off her post on how to use research in writing to give to my creative writing students this fall. The other half wants to make them read every post on her site. Which I recommend.

Sarah Brandel from the Apex Book Company blogged:

If you need to go about researching a subject on your own, however, you might want to check out the blog of Lisa Gold, who is a professional researcher, writer, and editor… Her blog contains a wealth of information on research resources, as well as her own methodology for tackling a subject. Check it out.