Cathy Perkins's Blog, page 131

Voices in the Night

I’m one of six. I shared a room all my life until I reached high school. When I turned that magical age, my older brother and sister both were out of the house, and I was offered the smallest bedroom in the house. Mine. All mine.

To make the point, I was allowed input on the decor. I had all the taste and distinction of a teenage boy, so the furniture (including a wonderful solid wood desk) was all painted flat black. The walls became “champagne orange,” a statement color to say the least. I’m...

Savage Deception

It’s good to be back with the Muse after a long absence due to personal illness. I’m much better now and am returning to the Muse with good friend and former guest blogger R.T. Wolfe. When R.T. last visited us in 2013, she discussed feelings of sadness she had at saying goodbye to some of her characters.

She decided she didn’t have to say goodbye to some of those folks, especially Detective Nickie Savage, who was introduced in her Black Creek Series. Now, Savage Deception, is the first in a th...

Dusty Books

Predictable. I had money in my pocket, and I walked past a used bookstore everyday. Which meant, even though I am a painfully slow reader, my personal library got its start to the tune of a couple of books a week.

Many of them were suggested by the owner, the wife of a retired University of Maryland professor. She had an amazing knowledge of her inventory, and she was almost always right when she suggested something. She was the one who got me interested in Graham Greene — something way out of...

Babies Times Three

March 31st—a day to wax schmaltzy and celebrate three babies in my life. Today I have a tale of three babes, each with a unique personality, and each related to the others in such a random way the connections can only be cosmic. One is no longer an infant (far from it), one I haven’t met yet, and one is not human, but each is a vital part of me.

“Baby” number one is my daughter, Jennifer. Today is her 33rd birthday, which makes her—obviously—the child who is not an infant. She was born just af...

Fish Sauce

Here is how you make fabulous, secret fish sauce. Take two envelopes of dried onion soup mix, plus a one-quart jar of sweet pickle relish (drained), and add them to a 10-gallon bucket of mayonnaise. Wash your arm thoroughly several inches up past the elbow. Shake dry, and begin manually folding the ingredients together until the whole bucket is homogeneous.

Ah, the magic of handmade garnishes at my first burger joint. For a long summer between Junior and Senior years, I did everything at a fas...

Twenty Fourteen

2014 is the year.

This has been my mantra for the last six months. While I’ve been MIA on the Muse, I’ve been neck deep with a new grand baby (born on my birthday!), the day job (*sigh*), and a pack of mouthy dachshunds. I’ve also been pedal to the metal with my writing. After Nano 2013, Livia developed a detailed career spreadsheet that included a daily word count target that I’ve found incredibly do-able.The Readers Digest version is that I decided to stop making excuses and start crossing s...

Island Inspiration – Guest Post Julie Lindsey

Julie Lindsey is a fellow Carina author who released a new mystery this month, the second in her Seaside series. Please welcome her to the Muse while she tempts us with her island retreat.

Island Inspiration

In 2007, about four years before I knew I was a writer, my family visited a tiny East Coast island on vacation. It was the kind of place that worms into your soul and grows there. I never wanted to leave. In some ways, I really haven’t. For those of you who aren’t familiar, Chincoteague is...

It’s SPRING!

Thank GOODness, right? I know we aren’t completely done with the “white stuff” just yet, but I am so grateful to be celebrating the first day of spring. This has certainly been a long winter, for sure.

I love to hear the return of the birds in the morning and I can already feel the warmth of sunnier days. Spring is always so full of hope and promise, I can’t wait to dig into whatever new project I select for myself.

Every year about this time I go on a spring cleaning frenzy. I go through close...

Dreams, RNC and The Best Laid Plans

Spring is upon us! Or it’s supposed to be. I vote for no more of this.

No ice storms. No snow. No black ice. No more cold.








And more of this. Flowers, sunshine, blue skies, jogging in the park, kids playing outside and back in school. Yeah!






I can’t complain about the severe Louisiana winter (except for the ridiculous light bill) and being shut in, because I accomplished more writing than I have in two years.After putting my writing on the back seat for personal reasons I’m finally ready to begin...

Secondary but Not Second-rate

By Sandra Parshall

I hate to haul out a cliché in my first sentence, but it’s true: it takes a village to make a novel. I’m not talking about the business of writing and publishing. I’m referring to all the other fictional people who populate the protagonist’s world.

Sidekicks, secondary characters, walk-ons who appear in one scene or chapter and never show up again — they’re all necessary to create a fully-realized fictional world, and each one deserves thoughtful attention from the author. A...