Research and madness

Journalism training is a great helper and a great weight. While writing, I find myself meticulously researching every nuance, from location to phrasing. There's certainly something to be said for truth, but there's also something to be gained from literary license. And I think I'm starting to get that.
I'm also starting to realize how differently every writer approaches a book. Take Eileen Dryer, who writes both suspense and romance (as Kathleen Korbel). She is not a born researcher, in fact she was a nurse for 16 years and, she says,

...nurses don't do libraries. We play with things.

Deborah Sharp of the Mama series, was a reporter for US Today for nearly 20 years. In an email to me she wrote,

I definitely remember seeing you at Killer Nashville. Good questions, but no surprise there since you come from a journalism background!

Questioning is in our blood.
In this jumbled post of research and writing, I'd like to pass on an exercise I read in Writer's Digest: write a bunch of First Lines. Do it! And go from there!

Here is mine...

I followed a man to suicide one day.

Read the story I developed from that First Line at my website: http://www.micheleemrath.net/stories.html