Cathy Perkins's Blog, page 139

First Line Hooks

When I’m choosing a book, either online or in the local bookstore, I usually look at three things – the cover and back cover blurb, then if I’m still interested, I read the first paragraph. Great first lines always grab us. How many us have started our first novel with some version of Snoopy’s book? or with a rivetingphrase like, “Something was about to happen.”

I’ve read some great ones over the years, as I’m sure you have. The best ones come from the pros.

My absolute favorite by Susan Eliz...

Measuring Your Milestones

This past weekend, my husband and I celebrated 25 years of marriage.

Hard for to believe, sometimes. The event loomed large for weeks, and even days before I still had no idea what to get him as a present. We stopped exchanging gifts years ago, and instead do or buy something big. Our big thing now is house hunting for the “forever” home.

Still, I wanted to do something special to commemorate such a big milestone. I fussed and fretted over this for days, until someone suggested giving him “25 s...

What I Did for my Summer Vacation

I remember driving with my Mom and telling her that, to me, fall felt like the beginning of the year. She agreed and thought it was a hold over from my school days. After all, this time of year is filled with excitement of starting a new semester, confident that you do well, and eager to catch up with friends you haven’t seen all summer.

Yes, Mom blinked and my sister has the ‘good’ picture.

When I was young, summers were spent in Wurstboro, NY, a small town in the Catskills. We stayed at the M...

Susan Jeffery learns to Bite the Big Apple

Hello from another new member to the Muse family! Let me introduce myself before I get to the topic for the day, which is, well, being new. My name is Susan and I’m a transplant from the Washington DC area to New York. It was a long time ago, but the memories are still fresh (sometimes still bleeding) in my mind. I’m subtitling my posts “Dixie Lives in New York Now – how growing up Southern armed a nice girl with good manners and accidental skills for living in the big city.”

Actually, I do...

Close Encounters with Jesuit Justice

My collar tightened. My feet left the ground. I passed through the window and hung three stories up from the concrete quadrangle. The people down below stopped playing basketball, curious about the tiny freshman hanging high above.

I believed I’d be snagged by one of the dangerous seniors (see my first post). I kicked and squirmed and swatted at the hand that held my collar.

“Let go of me!”

Luckily, he didn’t. Instead, Father Tom, our Prefect of Discipline, eased me back into the building and pl...

Last Chance Knit & Stitch

Holy Batman Change!

The reaction to the announcement actor/director Ben Affleck will take over the role of the Dark Knight reminded me how difficult many of us find change. For those of you who don’y know, Warner Bros. announced Affleck will play Batman in the Man of Steel sequel starring Henry Cavill as Superman, scheduled to open July 17, 2015.

According to an article in Monday’s USA Today, 71% of the 96,088 tweets in the first hour after the news broke were negative. Of those, 12% wanted (Christian) Bale to re...

Romance on the Small Screen: The New Season

Happy Monday everyone! I wanted to do a quick introduction before I jump right into my Muse Monday musings. My name is Nancy, and I’m a 40-something mom of three who lives in North Carolina with the children (of course,) a neurotic cat named after one of Shakespeare’s tragic heroines, and a tolerant husband who shakes his head at me at least once a day. Which means I’m doing something right! Now let’s talk about a few of my favorite things, and I hope yours, too.

Ahhhhhh, fall. As August fades...

Jody Vitek – Oddly True and Revealing

I’m happy to bring back an author who’s visited BIOTM before. Her second book is coming out this Monday. It’s entitled RESCUE ME and tells the story of a young veterinarian who rescues all kinds of stray animals but runs into trouble when she finds the farm she’s using actually belongs to the man across the road. And, she put a lot of personal details in the book–so help me welcome Jody Vitek and find out about some of the quirks in her background she was willing to share!First, here’s a litt...

Renewal

Renewal has been bouncing around my head this week. I’m not sure why… Maybe it’s the dangling lure of hang on vacation’s coming.

Maybe it’s an overdue library book.

I made a quick check of definitions and generally got the unhelpful, “the act of renewing or state of being renewed.”

Really?

But then I found, “filling again by supplying what has been used up.”

Oh…

That’s it. Filling again. Used up.

We all reach that point, don’t we? It’s not just the muse taking off for vacation without you. It’s too...