Cathy Perkins's Blog, page 18

The Colorado Sisters, L.A. and Eva Mondragon, Chicana Private Investigators by Juliana Aragon Fatula

Me with amigo and fellow Latin Loco Motion Perform, Manuel Roybal, Sr. and our tour guide in Sicily near Mt. Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe. I loved touring and performing on the military bases in 1995 between the Gulf War and the war that followed. The best days of my youth were spent flying in cargo planes like the ones transporting the asylum seekers from Afghanistan today. Have a little charity. 

Dear Reader, 

     This summer spun me on my heels, ripped my hair out of my head, thr...

Hitting Double Digits

By Lois Winston

My agent called me one day back in 2004. She’d had a conversation with an editor looking for a cozy mystery series with a crafting theme and told the editor she had the perfect author to write such a series. Of course, she meant me with my background as a designer of craft projects for manufacturers, craft book publishers, and magazines. 

 

However, at the time I’d only written romance, romantic suspense, and chick lit. I had never even heard of cozy mysteries that featured crafters...

The Dog Days of Writing!

By Lynn McPherson
I love my dog. I've had all sorts of pets in the past and dogs are my favorite. Cats aren't far behind (of course!) but there is nothing like a canine companion. Today I'm going to share my top three reasons for having a dog in your mystery.
Sydney, Lynn's adopted rescue dog!
1. A Nose for Trouble!Dogs have a way of sniffing out trouble. Often in books, a curious dog is a great way to get your character somewhere they shouldn't be--like the scene of a crime. If a dog smells someth...

Caddyshack revisited by Dru Ann Love

We have pigeons. They can be annoying when they gather. Especially on my balcony railing.

I’ve tried everything. Shooing them off the balcony. Spritzing them with water. And yet the continue to land on my railing and make a mess. Now they come onto the balcony and walk around leaving a mess there as well. So the battle has begun in earnest.

Repellent ribbons, they worked well until rain caused the ribbons to shrivel up and lose their shine.

Repellent device #1, they did keep the pigeons awa...

Following a Rabbit —T. K. Thorne

 

 

Writer, humanist,
          dog-mom, horse servant and cat-slave,
       Lover of solitude
          and the company of good friends,
        New places, new ideas
           and old wisdom.

 

 

 

 

I follow rabbit trails when I am writing because they often end up in the most unusual and interesting places.

Here are three tidbits I learned writing about an unnamed woman who was married to one of the most famous men on Earth:

*Written on stone, the oldest story known is from the Middle East (Ba...

The Thrill that Inspires

by Barbara Kyle

As the author of historical thrillers and contemporary thrillers, I've enjoyed pushing the boundaries of the genre.

It’s often said that a good thriller is like a roller-coaster ride. That's true enough. The genre is about high stakes, countdowns, and suspense, and every compelling thriller delivers this kind of excitement.

But the most satisfying thrillers deliver more: an exciting story that also explores complex issues and has something important to say about ...

Libraries By Saralyn Richard ...

 

Libraries

By Saralyn Richard

                                            Rosenberg Library's Fox Room

I’ve always loved libraries. My mother was a regular patron at the turn-of-the-century library and museum in my hometown, Rosenberg Library, and I remember climbing the marble stairs to the third-floor children’s library, where I loaded up on books every two weeks. The high ceilings and cool, papery smell, the hushed sounds of people moving about, the tall wooden card catalogue cabinets with ti...

Visiting Beaufort, South Carolina

by Paula Gail Benson

If you’ve seen the movies The Big Chill, The Great Santini, and The Prince of Tides, then you’ve seen parts of Beaufort, South Carolina. Pronounced Beau (rhyming with DEW) -fort rather than the North Carolina Beau (rhyming with SEW) -fort, the city preserves its historic features while offering a thriving community for the arts, education, and military installations (Beaufort Marine Corps Base, Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, and Naval Hospital Beaufort Navy Base)....

Bringing Home the Gold (or the Silver Falchion)

Bringing Home the Gold (or the Silver Falchion) by Debra H Goldstein

The Olympics produced many discussions from what is the twisties to whether Americans have the wrong mindset in terms of medals. The reality is that we celebrate winning the gold, but don’t have the same excitement for silver or bronze. Who ever saw a bronze medalist on the “Breakfast of Champions” Wheaties box?

 

An August 9, 2012, Scientific American article, “Why Bronze Medalists are Happier Than Silver Medalists,” noted tha...

Galactic Dreams

 by Bethany Maines

Welcome to a brave new age - the future!  When my co-writers and I agreed to collaborate on Galactic Dreams - a series of sci-fi fairy tale adaptations - we had no idea that the project would stretch into three volumes. Galactic Dreams (from Blue Zephyr Press) is a unique shared universe that I, along with my co-writers, J.M. Phillippe and Karen Harris Tully, developed and set the rules for, and then set our own stories within that universe.  In Volume 3, we've adapted some cla...