Cathy Perkins's Blog, page 169

Calling My Muse

My muse has been MIA for a few weeks. Trying to coax her back, has been difficult. None of my sure-fire tricks are working and it’s getting frustrating.

First, I tried free writing, which resulted in a decent word count, but not one word to move my present project forward. Then, I tried writing from a different viewpoint character. Absolutely nothing useable came from that effort.

Classical music, which normally works, didn’t. In desperation, I tried R & B from the 60s, 70s and 80s. Nope. S...

Introducing Debut Author Maxine Mansfield

I’m so pleased to introduce everyone to my friend and fellow debut author, Maxine Mansfield. Maxine lives in Alaska and, trust me, the long summer days and longer winter nights have been nothing short of amazing in feeding her astounding imagination. Her hilarious-yet-somehow-tender, ultra-unique erotic fantasy, Touched by the Magic, was released on May 4, and I can guarantee you’ve never read another book like it. I mean, when a gnome’s blow-up doll plays a vital role in a story about pa...

Introducing Debut Author Maxine Mansfield

I’m so pleased to introduce everyone to my friend and fellow debut author, Maxine Mansfield. Maxine lives in Alaska and, trust me, the long summer days and longer winter nights have been nothing short of amazing in feeding her astounding imagination. Her hilarious-yet-somehow-tender, ultra-unique erotic fantasy, Touched by the Magic, was released on May 4, and I can guarantee you’ve never read another book like it. I mean, when a gnome’s blow-up doll plays a vital role in a story about pa...

The Meanest Mom Ever! by Alix Rickloff

Quiz: who is the meanest mother ever?

A) The evil queen from Snow White (stepmother, but close enough)

B) Joan Crawford of Mommie Dearest fame

C) Ralphie’s mom from Christmas Story (you’ll shoot your eye out!)

Answer: None of the above.

Actually, for the record—I am the MEANEST MOM EVER! At least that’s what my children tell me at least once a week. More if I’m really doing my job right.

Before I had kids, I remember seeing other people with children and thinking, “Holy Shit, I am never going t...

Hiking Training for Idiots – Saga #1

There’s a reason the word “idiots” is in the title of this blog. It isn’t because I’m really an idiot. It’s because . . .

Well, no, it’s because I’m an idiot.

You see, I talked my husband into taking me on a trip to England. To visit Buckingham Palace? The Tower of London? Hyde Park? The red, double-decker buses? Oh no. It’s to hike. 190 miles in 16 days. And nope, I’m not joking.

We’re going on The Coast to Coast walk from a town 3 hours north of London on the coast of the Irish Sea called...

Welcome Caller, This is Chloe

It’s no secret that most writers are voracious readers and I’m no exception. Writing has definitely decreased my number of books per year I devour, but not my yearning for a secluded woodland spot where time halts and I’m surrounded by ten stacks of books. Ah, writerly fantasies.

Anyhoo. Without further ado about nothing:

“Big-hearted Chloe Camden is the queen of her universe until her best friend shreds her reputation and her school counselor axes her junior independent study project. Chl...

Crazy Like A Fox

`Last week I made a surprising discovery. I was sitting in my sunroom trying to write, when something caught my eye out the window. At first, I thought it was a large, stray cat – the animal’s movement sure seemed cat-like. It would have to be a cat with a death wish though, since we have a large, male German shepherd as part of our family. Instead, it turned out to be a gorgeous red fox. A few seconds later, I realized it was a mother fox, because out of our back woods popped four sweet,...

For the Love of English!

Growing up I was fascinated with the Englishlanguage. Mostly because I constantly cameclose with my word usage – but not close enough. Words and phrases like affidavit and statute oflimitationsbecame (and I swore I was right back then) after David and statues of limitations. I was never too interested in writing back then, though I loved creating poetry.

In the intervening years that I married and had kids. During that time, I’ve watched the English language adapt to the arrival of the Int...

Demon’s Curse

Words with Wings

Watching a television show recently, the character said something that resonated with me. “God gave us words. It’s our job to put wings on them.” It prompted me on Thoughtful Thursday to consider a follow-up to an earlier BIOTM post, Three Dimensional Senses (2/29/2012).

After you’ve been writing a while, published or not, it gets easier to recognize when the description of a scene, or person, is uninspiring. Not to say every sentence needs to be inspired, but when someone is good at it, y...