Cathy Perkins's Blog, page 173

Guest Blogger: Meet Debut Author Jennifer Bernard

I am so excited and proud to introduce you to my inspiring friend and fellow Avon author, Jennifer Bernard. Jenny is an amazing writer and someone I completely look up to in a lot of ways. In fact, you'll see we have quite a mutual admiration society going! I hope you'll enjoy getting to know her, and will watch for her debut novel The Fireman Who Loved Me coming in April. Here's a little taste:

F earless, smoking hot and single: meet the Bachelor Firemen of San Gabriel. These...

Positive Affirmation: Getting Personal

We're closing in on GH/Rita call day, so my critique group and I have been practicing positive affirmation and visualizations. Sticking with that theme, it's taken me two hours to write this, because it's hitting a topic close to home for me. Recently I started watching "The Biggest Loser." This season's theme is "No Excuses", and I like that, because if making excuses was a paid profession, I'd be freakin' rich.   It's possible to fear success. This morning the Daily OM...

Future Wackiness

Since this is a Wacky Wednesday post, I decided I'd share some weird and wacky news I came across the other day. Have you ever wondered what the future might look like in 2050? One company is doing just that.

Frog is a global design and innovation firm in San Francisco. They helped shape the original Mac computers and many of the most popular gadgets we use today. They are also the brains behind five new technologies that we may see in the relatively near future. Hold onto...

It's the first day of Spring!

My calendar says it's the first day of Spring, but the weather outside says otherwise. It snowed yesterday. Check out the photo on the right—that was taken just the other day. I think Mother Nature forgot it's supposed to be warming up around here. Today, it's pseudo sunny (meaning, it's not raining), but it's cold, cold, cold.

Yet, I love this time of year. I have such high expectations of myself, kind of like on January first with all the resolutions. This year, I'm going to ...

Trisha Yearwood Monday

I used to belong to a Unitarian church that had a killer choir and every so often — about six times a year, they would put on an all-Bach Sunday.  Not surprisingly big crowds turned out and the minister was wise enough not overdo the preaching on those Sundays.  He let Bach do it for him.

It might be Monday and this is certainly not church, but it is our inspiration day.  So I'm declaring an all Trisha Yearwood Monday.

Trisha has collected the mother lode of story songs that...

Publishing Changes Examined by PASIC (and Jade Lee)

Our guest today is Jade Lee, USA Today bestselling author of more than 30 romance novels.

Since I just came back from the PASIC RWA conference, Claranne asked me to give a quick summary of what went on.  That's like trying to summarize the current political climate in 300 words.  Not so easy, but I'll give some gross generalizations.

Here's the revolutionary news that you've probably heard.  Authors, general people, and even your weird Cousin It can string together a bunch of...

Ode to Mr. Armitage… Sorta by Grace Burrowes

As part of a recent guest blog post, I was asked to provide a photo of a guy I thought was swoon-worthy. Maybe it's my age, my compulsion to yeah-but, or my inherent lawyer sense of fairness, but if I'd been a guy author, and I'd been asked to post a picture of a woman I thought was hubba-hubba worthy, would that have been Politically Correct?

I felt a little bit as if I were being asked, "Show us a picture of a guy so attractive you'd jump into bed with him regardless of...

Phenomenon Schmomenon

Phenomenon - a fact or situation that is observed to exist or happen, esp. one whose cause or explanation is in question; a remarkable person, thing, or event.

Whether it's a phenomenon in your own backyard or a worldwide event, the odd, unexplainable, and seriously absurd continue to amaze and entertain us. Spiderman, Ax Men, Swamp Men – one thing these phenonmenon have in common is exaggeration. Filmed just south of here, Swamp Men was a fascination for friends in Maryland...

Who is That Masked Man?

Not one to spend much time worrying about my hair, I tap the convenience of using my wife's hair stylist.  It spares me the "trainee of the month" at chain places.  The stylist is cheerfully chatty, mostly about her family, which could fill a couple of novels in the romance genre.  A single mom, with an ex who continues to be a wedged anchor in her life, a son just out of high school who just moved out and a tweenager girl who knows everything (who doesn't have one of...

Guest Muse, Susan Muller!

Please welcome our guest Muse today, Susan Muller! Susan's first book, The Secrets on Forest Bend, was a December release from Soul Mate Publishing, and Susan stopped by today to share her writing experience with us!

The word chapter may refer to a main division in a book or document, a period of time or an episode in a person's life, or the local branch of an organization.

In novels, a chapter may be any length, but averages three to five interrelated scenes. Some writers make ...