Cathy Perkins's Blog, page 166
June 20, 2012
Riptides: Battered, Bruised and Still Standing
A few weeks ago my family and I went to the Outer Banks for my nephew’s wedding. The first day, I took my twins and my niece to the beach. But before I let them near the water, I gave them my lecture on riptides. How they were dangerous (blah, blah) and how they could pull you out to sea (blah, blah). Since it was high tide by the time we got to the beach, I made them stand in the surf. In spite of their moans and complaints about how mean and unreasonable I was being, they ended up spend...
June 19, 2012
Those Crazy Days of Summer
Today is the astrological first day of summer, otherwise known as The Summer Solstice. The summer solstice occurs exactly when the axial tilt of a planet’s semi-axis in a given hemisphere is most inclined towards the star that it orbits. This happens twice each year, at which times the Sun reaches its highest position in the sky as seen from the North or South Pole, respectively. The summer solstice is the solstice that occurs in a hemisphere’s summer. In the Northern Hemisphere this is t...
PUSH your goals forward
I’m reading a great book right now. It’s PUSH: 30 Days to Turbocharged Habits, a Bangin’ Body and the Life You Deserve, by 
Chalene Johnson. If you’ve ever seen the infomercials for ChaLEAN Extreme or Turbokick, then you know who I’m talking about. If you’re not familiar with her, let me just tell you she’s a petite, blonde, loud, fit version of Anthony Robbins.
Even though Chalene is best known for her fitness DVDs, her new book PUSH is less about fitness and more about setting—and achievi...
June 17, 2012
Monday Musings
Ah, Muse Monday. My dreaded day, because my muse still hasn’t shown her face to me.
But, you know, she might not have to. Or, rather, she has, but she’s not a typical muse. Y’all have heard of NaNoWriMo, right? Did you know there’s also summer camp NaNo? It’s not as community-involved, but it’s still 50K words in 30 days. Day 18 and I’ve written about 11,000. I’m obviously not gonna make the 50K but I’m still happy with my progress.
Camp NaNo has cabins for participants, but there are only...
June 14, 2012
Conquering BASD: Bright and Shiny Disease
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Lynn Cahoon
Abby here, and excited to host fellow Lalala and Cowboy Writer Lynn Cahoon. She grew up in the middle of cowboy country and was destined to fall in love with a tall, cool glass of water. Now, she enjoys writing about small town America, the cowboys who ride the range, and the women who love them.
And don’t forget – comment for a chance to win a summer basket giveaway at the start of summer!
Giddyup, Lynn!
I’m a jumper. Not physically – but a jumper never the less. See a call out...
The Great Historical Writers Debate – Vol II
The Great Debate …at least among historical writers always seems to be; how do we balance accurately depicting our era while at the same time making it accessible to the average reader?
A few months ago, we examined the dilemma of language use and how much reality is too much reality. Today, I’m moving on to a discussion about where to draw the line when it comes to those pesky historical details.
A confession before we begin: I write paranormal historical so right off the bat, my case is a...
June 12, 2012
Lost in Translation
Having lived in Asia for ten years, Bill Murray’s movie, “Lost in Translation” was so spot on, I had to watch it twice because I was laughing too much. Writers spend a lot of time surgically implanting the perfect word or sentence. We’re graded on it. What we sometimes forget is, not everyone speaks the same language.
Bridging between the romance languages tends to be easier, since it’s all Latin based. It doesn’t work so well with a language that uses pictograph calligraphy. For Wacky Wed...
Summer Entertainment
This is turning out to be a heavier entertainment summer for me than normal. Two weeks into the summer and I’ve seen two of the “blockbusters” MIB3 and Prometheus.
I’d give Men in Black 3 three popcorns. It was fun, well acted, and had interesting, if slimy, aliens. I laughed a lot, cried a little (Emma Thompson’s alien speak scene was painful, but she pulled it off) and walked out of the theater thinking that was a good way to spend a summer afternoon. I can’t say if it’s better than the...
June 11, 2012
Not Just Another Bumper Sticker
I’ve been thinking alot lately – brainstorming, internalizing, analyzing and something that’s been on my mind is an element of story known by many names – core story, message, theme…
In this month’s RWR Claudia Welch, aka Claudia Dain, wrote the absolute best article on theme I’ve ever read.
She likens story to a set of cards where the suits are plot, character, setting and theme. She says theme is more connected to voice than plot because each writer has a set of truths their hearts circle...
