Cathy Perkins's Blog, page 133

January 31, 2014

DREAM, DREAM, DREAM, DREAM – Welcome debut author Mary Strand

I’ve known Mary Strand since 2005 and I have to say — I’ve NEVER regretted the moment I met and got to know her. If you follow her humorous escapades on FB, you’ll know that MANY people feel that way. Mary is funny and fun, and one of the most focused and goal-oriented people I know (she’ll laugh but it’s true). Because of that, she has realized the publishing dream she’s been chasing a while now.


Mary’s debut novel COOPER’S FOLLY (a Golden Heart winning book) was released by Belle Bridge Book...

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Published on January 31, 2014 07:00

January 30, 2014

Neighbors

Most of my experience of the neighborhood around Gonzaga was as an observer. Day-to-day life in poverty was on full display outside the windows of the school, complete with shouting, crying, and laughing.


My direct experience early on was confined to being jumped twice. In one case, I was trapped in the boys room by a couple of locals, but Coach Joe Kozik arrived in the nick of time to chase them away.


The second time was more alarming. I’d stepped between the Notre Dame building and a raised p...

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Published on January 30, 2014 05:30

January 29, 2014

Flashes of Brillance

A few years back, I read a biography about Louisa May Alcott. Her family was often concerned when she would begin a new book, as she would often write for days at a time, barely pausing to eat, sleep etc.

She described this as, “The Vortex”. I remember where I was when I read those words. It was like a mental telepathy from a woman behind a wooden writing desk, in a drafty house, and most likely a quill pen rushed forward to connect to me-in bed in the 21st century. That is precisely the word...

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Published on January 29, 2014 04:23

January 27, 2014

Goals and the Working Writer

Time. We all complain there’s never enough of it, but if you’re like me, you waste a bit of it every day doing things you don’t really need to do.


And that’s okay.


I could get by every day without watching any television, but I don’t think I want to. It is the one thing that helps me relax, or keeps me going that extra fifteen minutes on the treadmill when I want to give up.


That being said, there are some things I do that I could give up, or at least cut back on the time I spend on them. Social...

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Published on January 27, 2014 07:00

January 23, 2014

Brave, Sara Bareilles, and Out of Body Experience

Early last year, I began work on a new young adult novel, a contemporary thriller with a working title of Out of Body Experience. As is always the case with a shiny, new project, a flood of ideas poured into my head and my fingers could barely type fast enough. Early on, I knew I wanted Lyndsay, the main character of this book, to be a kickass heroine who has to travel the treacherous path from fear to bravery. She would have to be brave enough not only to face a dangerous adversary in this t...

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Published on January 23, 2014 21:01

A Season of Extremes

Perhaps because I’m getting older, the extremes seem to be more extreme. And, it’s not just the wacky weather we’ve had lately that prompts my musings today. Yes, single-digit temps for days on end is a bit below “average,” but it’s not all that unusual for those who’ve lived their entire lives in regions where winter blows cold. Although, I must admit, I’m kinda done with the below-zero “feels like” temps.


Extremes are everywhere. We have our extreme diet and fitness crazes. Seriously, just h...

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Published on January 23, 2014 07:00

January 21, 2014

How go the resolutions?

Some of you, fellow Musers and readers, might remember me. I’m a long-ish time, very proud member of this blog who hasn’t been seen or heard from for ages because I’ve been on a deadline for two months. Add my run at National Novel Writing Month in November, and that’s even longer I’ve been AWOL.


Two months of deadline? Well, yes. Why? Because I have a book-by-book contract system going with Avon at the moment, and I’m sorta kinda free to set some of my own deadlines. And when I set my own dea...

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Published on January 21, 2014 21:01

January 16, 2014

Do What You Love

My calling to be a writer came while I was at Gonzaga. Previously, I had a bizarre attachment to doggerel, including a long narrative poem I probably could still recite pieces of. But I was completely focused on getting involved in the sciences, or possibly medicine.


Throughout my years at Gonzaga, a relatively young priest (mid-40s?) used to hang around in the Annex, the part of Gonzaga that occupied about half of the girl’s high school next that shared the same block. He would wander out of...

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Published on January 16, 2014 03:00

January 14, 2014

Tuesday at the Theater

The Wolf of Wall Street


Blurb from IMBd.com: Based on the true story of Jordan Belfort, from his rise to a wealthy stockbroker living the high life to his fall involving crime, corruption and the federal government.


If this movie didn’t have Oscar buzz, I would have had no interest in seeing it. I’m not into movies about the super ridiculously wealthy, Wall Street, and greed. However, I do like Martin Scorsese movies and I like Leonardo DiCaprio as an actor (although no matter how old he gets,...

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Published on January 14, 2014 00:00

January 12, 2014

What Happened to the Night?

From Depositphotos.com


Last year, I visited a small National Monument called Pipe Springs in Utah, the site of the Piute, Native American reservation. It wasn’t the museum of native artifacts dating back thousands of years, amazing in its own right, that struck with me awe. Nights crisp cold, the sky blazed with an unencumbered view of the Milky Way against a backdrop of pure onyx. It had been long time since I’d seen such cosmic majesty with my own eyes and not from Hubble satellite pictures....

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Published on January 12, 2014 21:50