Sue Perry's Blog: Required Writing, page 23

Repeating Landscapes

Reflections and shadows make the world more intriguing. This is true in people as well as terrains, but I don’t have photos that demonstrate this for personalities. August’s full moon was so bright that it cast shadows on my car and produced enough light for me to take this photo: An easy hike up Malibu […]

I Had Better Get Busy

My “desert island” food is the blueberry. My “desert island” place is the ocean. Which proves convenient: I don’t have to bring my favorite place with me to the desert island, it will already surround me. Desert island. Typing that phrase, I realize how comfortable I am using language when I don’t entirely know what it […]

Certain Songs I Can’t Ignore

There are some songs that are so captivating that whatever my mood, whatever else is going on, they grab and elevate. Below are three of my all-time top endorphinators. What are yours? At their peak -which is saying something! – here are Sly and The Family Stone, “Dance to the Music”. In the mid 1970s […]

The Subtleties of Body Language

One of these people has won every round of Sequence. Want to hazard a guess which one it is?

My Most Potent Energy Source

The ocean is my place. It’s where I go to revive, invigorate, find peace. At the shore I feel connected to all that underlies our everyday lives. I love the way the shorebirds run out as the surf recedes, run back as it returns. They are so in tune with the pattern of the waves […]

“Looking Kinda Spooky and Withdrawn”

Daily Prompt Instructions: Take the third line of the last song you heard, make it your post title, and write for a maximum of 15 minutes. GO! I don’t know him but I’m worried about him. Crowded room buzzing with hubbub and attitude, he’s in that far corner, slouched tilted because his chair has a […]

Gee. Thanks guys.

Dear Family Cats (and also the dog), Thanks for giving me an unforgettable experience. A night of induced insomnia and – okay – a couple laughs. It all started about 130 am. The dog woke me up, walking in and out of my room, flopping down in the hallway, jumping up again to tick tick […]

Most Tactful 4-Year-Old. In the World.

On my evening walk, I passed a mom and her young daughter headed the opposite way. “Mom, it’s oKAY!” The girl waves her arms and bounces as they walk. “No, it was not okay that you did that.” The mom hunches forward, pushing an infant in a stroller. “It was okay.” With no uncertainty. “No, […]

My Writing Trends – and a Couple Cartwheels

First, the cartwheels. I have just finished a very rough first draft of the first book in my fantasy detective series, Frames. Now I set it aside for a week, and remind myself to savor the sense of accomplishment. Then the real work begins, as I read through it, make notes, then revise. This is my fourth […]

A New Introduction to a Previous Self

I continue to limp deeper into the retype* of ?Was It A Rat I Saw?, my psychological thriller involving real-life split brain research, animal rights, and a love quadrangle. I haven’t read the book in years and retyping also means rereading, which holds surprises for me: I’m always my harshest critic but I like ?Rat? although I would do everything […]