After reading this article by Lauren Sapala, I have a better understanding about why plotting, or outlining, a novel has never worked for me. And yet, I’ve published four books in a series that have gotten good reviews, and I’m working on three more in a second series, all without getting mired in a plotless mess. I know some fantastic authors who outline their plots and write wonderful books, and I’ve sometimes wished I could write that way. Now I know why I write the way I do.
Are you a writer? How are you wired?
Welcome to Day 2 of Breakfield and Burkey’s “INTRODUCING ENIGMA TRACER” Blog Tour! @EnigmaSeries @4WillsPub @4WP11 @RRBC_Org @PTLPerrin
GIVEAWAYS:
(7) ebook copies of ENIGMA TRACER
(7) audible codes for ENIGMA TRACER book (US or UK)
Please leave the authors a comment below for your chance to win one of these awesome prizes!
Dear Readers, I am pleased to introduce you to two of the smartest people I know, Charles Breakfield and Rox Burkey. If you haven’t read their thrillers yet, now is a good time to start. In today’s world, you might wonder just how fictional their story is. Welcome, Charles and Rox!
~~~~~~~~~~
For every retiring generation the exiting adults have the same questions as the heirs. Can the new generation perform as well as their mentors? The challenge for new leaders is that no matter how much training they receive, the problems they face are never like the ones they were taught. There is no magic formula to follow because cybercrime heroes are fighting problems never before witnessed. These heirs must think and adapt to an ever-morphing landscape as they face the next generation of cyber threats.
Mentors can’t teach their charges how to handle every threat they may encounter, but they can teach them how to think. Stumbling as they take on new important roles teaches the young adults how to adapt their thinking and remain agile.
Gracie’s role is to orchestrate digital covert operations anywhere to help people and businesses. JJ’s provides operator support at ground level to the problems Gracie uncovers. They must be decisive and calculating because the criminals they are competing against are ruthless.
Listen to this snippet of the thriller from the audiobook by narrator Derek Shoales: https://youtu.be/S5qBCZ5XJGQ
BOOK BLURB:
The clock is ticking … can Gracie uncover the truth?
Phillip Pliant is the wealthy opportunist plastics dealer and CEO of Pliant Industries. He’s also a master thief—creating a pervasive threat to the manufacturing infrastructure in the Caribbean islands markets. With the cartel as his stealth client, the naïve city leaders have been seduced, enabling the production of more than 3-dimensional building materials.
And set the stage for massive chaos and destruction.
Pliant has locked up contracts, assets, and control of any future expansion. His contacts and clients salivate over their probable financial reward—the expected profits are monstrous.
Is the R-Group, now led by Gracie and the family heirs, strong enough to win against this predator? Can JJ’s CATS (Cyber Assassin Technology Services) act on the root-cause analysis in time?
- Will the R-Group and CATS sabotage Pliant’s plan before it’s too late?
- Can Jeff and Keith use their covert skills to put the bad guys away for good?
- Will Gracie be able to squash Pliant and the cartels?
Can the chain of islands survive the underhanded tactics and threats?
Gracie never considered that their lives would hang between winning and losing. Will the devious plot be uncovered in time? The clock is ticking. Five … four … three …
AUTHOR BIOS
BREAKFIELD-Charles works as a data/telecom solution architect and supports digital security, blockchain solutions, and unified communications. He enjoys writing, studying World War II history, travel, and cultural exchanges. Charles’ love of wine tastings, cooking, and Harley riding often provides writing topics.
Much of his personality comes from his father who served in the military for 30 years and three wars. Charles grew up on multiple bases and different countries. The multi-cultural exposure helps him with the various character perspectives they bring to the series. His personal ambition is to continue to teach Burkey humor.
BURKEY– Rox is a Customer Experience Specialist who works with businesses worldwide. As a gifted speaker and accomplished listener, she bridges the chasm between business problems and technical solutions to optimize business productivity. She has written technology and white papers, but launches into high gear when plotting our next technothriller or short story.
She led the other kids with her highly charged imagination generating new adventures with make-believe characters as a child. She is proud of being a Girl Scout until high school and contributed to the community as a member of a Head Start program. Rox enjoys her family, learning, listening to people, traveling, outdoor activities, sewing, cooking, and thinking about diversifying the series.
BREAKFIELD AND BURKEY began their writing partnership with non-fictional papers and books, then formed a business LLC as fictional storytellers. They recognize that stories are an evolving method to share excitement, thrills, and insights into today’s technology risks. EnigmaSeries.com has samples of the Enigma Series novels, short stories, audiobooks, and book trailers, with the newest series Enigma Heirs releasing in March 2023. They’ve earned multiple awards for their fictional creations. Contact them via email at Authors@EnigmaSeries.com.
They are passionate about leveraging real technology into fictional writing. The variety of character attributes from the many people who crossed their professional paths adds that depth. Admittedly, Breakfield often asks people he meets if they thought about being an evil cyberthug or femme fatale in their series.
Both authors have traveled to many places around the world. These travels are pulled into stories adding realism to specific locals. They enjoy well-rounded thrillers that include humor, romance, intrigue, suspense, and mystery.
They love to talk about their stories at private and public book readings or events. They are proud members of the Rave Reviews Book Club for more than three years. Find their books and information about this supportive club HERE.
SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6Vz4x5ctTnx3yUhZk1OJkw
https://roxburkey.com/
https://twitter.com/1rburkey
https://twitter.com/EnigmaSeries
https://www.facebook.com/roxanne.burkey.50
https://www.facebook.com/TheEnigmaSeries
AMAZON OR OTHER PURCHASE LINKS
To follow along with the rest of the tour, please visit the authors’ tour page on the 4WillsPublishing site. If you’d like to schedule your own blog tour and have your book promoted in similar grand fashion, please click HERE. Thanks for supporting these authors and their work!
Welcome to Day 7 of Shirley Harris-Slaughter’s “MOTHER’S DAY AND OTHER FAVORITE THINGS” Blog Tour! @sharrislaughter @4WillsPub @4WP11 @RRBC_Org #RRBC #4WillsPub.
I am so pleased to introduce you to Shirley Harris-Slaughter, the author of Joyce Winifred Harris-Burkes: How I Remember My Mama. Today is Day 7 of her “Mother’s Day and Other Favorite Things” blog tour.
GIVEAWAYS:
(2) $5 Amazon Gift Cards
(5) Tickets into RRBC’s WC&BE Raffle for (7) $100 Amazon Gift Card Gift Baskets
Please leave the author a comment below for your chance to win one of these awesome prizes!
Welcome, Shirley! Let’s get right into reading your post for today…
I had to produce a sample piece for a writing class and this post is it. I had a problem with keeping the past, present and future tense in its proper place. This sample is supposed to address those problems, but I wonder …
A Writing Sample – Past Tense, Fiction
Mom is sitting on the couch rubbing her stomach constantly, feeling miserable. The doctor said, “You are carrying twins!”
I am really feeling her pain. “OMG! We’re expecting twins! Mom, is there something I can do to make you feel better?”
“No darling. There is nothing anybody can do. We must wait until they get here.” Mom said. I am seven years old, and this day will forever be etched in my memory. Even now I can feel her as if the pain is mine.
Mom couldn’t do housework anymore, so dad brought in a relative (Mama Anita) to stay with us. I was forced to share my bed with this obese woman. Because of her size, I wound up on the floor more than once. She got on her knees to pray every night before going to bed. Boy, did she preach up a storm. At least 15 minutes. I lay still, watching her, and wishing I could be somewhere else.
She had her hair braided and her drab clothes hung on her because of her size. She wore heavy duty black shoes. Her persona was easygoing. I could not see what she did for us because our hair is not kept up, and our clothes are wrinkled. I remember getting teased at school about it. She didn’t take care of us the way mom did, and it became so evident. Things changed right before my eyes, and the twins were not even here yet.
———
The identical twin boys were born on October 30, 1963. It was the day before Halloween and life was never the same. It forced me to grow up fast. There they were in two baskets with handles for carrying. I still remember the cries because the sound was so unique. The incessant crying. Over time, I grew concerned about it because it didn’t seem normal. They cried all the time. It was like something was frightening them. One night the crying didn’t stop, and mom ran into the bedroom to find smoke billowing out of the room. A rag over the lightbulb hanging from the ceiling got too hot and caught fire. Mom placed it there so the glare wouldn’t disturb the babies. Dad and mom got the babies out quickly. The firefighters came but luckily there was no major damage, just a lot of smoke. I wondered if the smoke did any harm to them.
The twins were the talk of the town. They generated excitement everywhere my parents took them. They rode in a baby buggy built for two. I would describe it as all gray and very wide – enough room for two little ones. They were named Dwight Gregory (the right-handed twin), and Dwayne George (the left-handed twin). The first photo had the two of them lying face up for the shot. They looked like mirrors of each other. They were so perfect.
Mom needed a lot of help to handle and care for the babies. Dad regularly went to work and came home and that’s about it. He was not involved in the day-to-day activities of the newborns. Mama Anita takes her leave after a couple of months and I was glad to get my room back.
Things kind of fell to me. I don’t remember if my sister would have been capable of helping much. She was only six years old at the time. My duty was to always keep the diaper pail clean and fresh. Mom taught me how to wash baby clothes and diapers in the washing machine. Hanging them out to dry was next, as we didn’t own a dryer. I used to love the smell of the diapers after the sun dried them out. Only wealthy people had driers alone with color TV sets, and cars.
Cooking is another chore I learned how to do out of necessity, starting with breakfast. This is my life now. Getting up, eating breakfast, running out to play is now a thing of the past. I long for those carefree days again.
My new rule. I’m never going to have kids when I grow up.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the new additions to our family. It was just so much work to do because mom was still trying to recover from the whole ordeal. I know she is glad to be rid of the load because she was huge while pregnant, and in so much pain.
Mom yells, “Leslie Lee, come here.” I shout back, “Coming!” “I want you to sit next to me while I try to pump the milk from my breast. The babies won’t breastfeed. We’re going to have to make up formulas.” My eyes were popping out of my head as I watched her trying her best to produce the milk, but enough of it was not coming, so she experienced a lot of pain. I remember her telling me once that we (my siblings and I) would not take her milk either. We rejected it too. I always thought that was so strange because babies need that first healthy start in life.
I would really appreciate your feedback on this writing sample.
Please leave a comment below and thank you so much for visiting my blog stops.
BOOK BLURB:
Mama could tell a joke. Next thing you know, you are rolling on the floor from one of them. She loved to play the lottery and religiously purchased tickets every chance she got. If you fail to buy her tickets when she asks you, she will tell you that was the winning number … “If you had done what I asked, I would have won.” It was classic!
She was just as passionate about her faith and could quote passages from the bible all day long, which she did. She was a good mother and made huge sacrifices for her children.
She was the woman who wanted to be an actress but never got the chance. She was the woman who worked at a naval air base in Alameda County, California, screwing rivets in wings of airplanes. They were called “Rosie the Riveter” during World War II.
She was the constant in our lives.
This is how I remember my mama!
AUTHOR BIO:
Shirley Harris-Slaughter is the author of Our Lady of Victory, the Saga of an African-American Catholic Community which was written to address a need to preserve Catholic history in her local community. She mentored four freshman girls at the local middle school in the Winning Futures Mentor Program. She is active in her church and Rave Reviews Book Club a virtual book club community where she has added another biography and fiction to her repertoire. She is married to Langston and is a Michigan Native.
And now, Slaughter has written a memoir about her mother, Joyce Winifred Harris-Burkes: How I Remember My Mama. It talks about memories regarding her life, and her works. The theme is about how the apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree. Slaughter is an activist just like her mother.
PLEASE FOLLOW SHIRLEY THROUGH ALL HER SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS:
Twitter: @sharrislaughter
Facebook: Shirley Slaughter
Websites:
PICK UP HER BOOK(S) TODAY AT HER AMAZON BOOK PURCHASE LINKS:
Joyce Winifred Harris-Burkes: HOW I REMEMBER MY MAMA
Our Lady of Victory, the Saga of an African-American Catholic Community
Ronald L. Powell: Missing in Action
Crazy! Hot! And Living On The Edge!!
A CITIZEN’S GROUP IN ACTION: Saving a Train Station
To follow along with the rest of the tour, please visit the author’s tour page on the 4WillsPublishing site. If you’d like to schedule your own blog tour and have your book promoted in similar grand fashion, please click HERE. Thanks for supporting this author and her work!
Be sure to leave Shirley a comment below for a chance to win an awesome prize!
#RWISA “RISE-UP” Tour, Day 1, PTL Perrin @ptlperrin, @RRBC_Org @RRBC_RWISA @Tweets4RWISA #RRBC
Was there something your mom did that you’ll never forget? Our mother was an unforgettable character. This is the time she delivered a sermon at church that no one expected and no one understood a word of! Enjoy the story and leave a comment on the RWISA page for a chance to win a bundle of ebooks along with an Amazon gift card!
WHEN MOM DELIVERED A SERMON
by PTL Perrin
After Mom left Spain and moved to Naples, Florida, she and my sister Margie would sometimes visit Bill and me on the Atlantic coast of our state. They both enjoyed coming to church with us, and our church family loved them. We believe the gifts of the Spirit the Bible talks about are as alive and vital today as they were in the early church. The Holy Spirit is in us when we become Christians, but there’s an additional empowerment available for us as described in the book of Acts, chapter two.
As our pastor says, “We’re Spirit-filled, Charismatic, Bible believing, tongue-talking, Pentecostal Christians.” So, what happened to Mom one Sunday came as no surprise to anyone. The delivery was unusual, but so typically Mom.
After our worship music, Pastor singled Mom out and called her up for prayer. In her mid-seventies…
View original post 1,001 more words
Time to Pray by Donna Berger
What a meaningful interpretation of the Lord’s Prayer Donna gives us in her blog today! I had to share it with you. The “Our Father” is a conversation with God–so much more than words to be repeated.
Billy Graham once said, “To get nations back on their feet, we must first get down on our knees.” Worldwide, the calls for prayer are growing louder. On the topic of prayer, Ecclesiastes 5:2 tells us, God is in heaven, and you are on the earth; therefore, let your words be few.
My personal go-to is The Lord’s Prayer. When His disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, He gave them the perfect model of prayer. The Lord’s prayer is simple and short; but prayer is not meant to be thoughtless repetition. It is after all a conversation with God and should be filled with our love, gratitude, and praise. Let’s practice making it a dialogue, not a monologue.
January 31, 2023 – Day 30 of #ADayInMyLife @PTLPerrin 30-Day #Blogging Challenge 2023 @RRBC_org @RRBC_RWISA @Tweets4RWISA #RRBC #RWISA
1-31-23, Day 30 In PTL Perrin’s Life
Welcome to day thirty, the final post of A Day In My Life! Happy Tuesday!
Here we are, at the finish line of the Rave Reviews Book Club’s 30-Day Blogging Challenge, and what a run it has been. At first, I had no idea if I’d have enough material to share for thirty days straight. Whose days are so interesting that anyone would want to hear about all the details?
Along with writing every day, we were also challenged to read the other participants’ daily blog posts, and that first day, I had my Eureka! moment. Each writer had something different to share. From deep introspection to views on current events, from travel stories to past experiences in school, from family drama in the past to life-changing events happening right now, I gained a new love and appreciation for each RRBC member who participated.
Did I get as much out of writing my blog as I did from reading everyone else’s? I think so. I wrote about things I did, but more so about how I felt about those things; like the bittersweet sadness and relief of putting away Christmas. I hope my love for the Lord God showed through. Without Him, I’m nothing, but all things are possible with Him. I hope my visitors enjoyed these daily posts.
This wasn’t an easy challenge. I had to put aside tasks that needed doing then and are CRITICAL now because they’re time-sensitive. Think numbers. I haven’t written anything other than these posts because writing them, searching out pictures, and reading and commenting on everyone’s posts has eaten all my writing time. For that reason, I won’t be writing more blogs for the time being. If you’ve enjoyed them, then don’t be disappointed. I’ll be back when the inspiration hits and I have something to share with you. And I do like to reblog great articles I find elsewhere.
Enough finish line stuff. I PROMISED I’d show you pictures of my trip to Spain, broken leg and all, so here goes.
My sister Margie and I left Germany and flew to Spain after Bill left for home. Thankfully, the doctor gave me a walking cast, which really came in handy when we had to walk through sand in the mountains.
Mom and Dad built their house in 1972 and furnished it with the same 1950s furniture we grew up with. We loved that house! They had no air conditioning, and kept the windows open year round. The garden scents of night blooming jasmine, gardenias, and roses filled it night and day. That part of Spain has no humidity, so even though it was hot, ceiling fans were enough for sleeping comfort.
The house was two blocks from the Mediterranean. Where we have beautiful sand in Florida, those beaches were made of pebbles. Tough on the feet!
The entire town shut down every afternoon from 1pm to 4pm for Siesta. It was nice to have down time to nap or read or walk along the beach promenade. The buildings interested me. Where here you might see apartment buildings all looking exactly alike, in Spain, the apartments in the buildings all had different facades.
We ate at different restaurants and often stopped for quick treats.
The town my parents lived in had its own fort and marina where Dad kept his sailboat.
Have you heard of spaghetti westerns? This part of Spain looks very much like Texas in the mountains. Westerns have always been popular movies in Europe, and we went to the movie set where many of them were filmed.
On other trips to Spain, we visited the Alhambra, a gorgeous Moorish castle in Granada. All the photos I took there are in physical albums, so I’ll share this one I got from the internet.
If you ever get to Spain, visit Granada and tour the Alhambra. It is breathtaking!
I have had so much fun scrolling through photos of our trip to Germany and Spain! I wish I could share them all with you. I wish I’d had more of the inside of Alhambra!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this month of blog posts. God bless you and yours!
Thank you for reading my blog today, and please visit my friends and fellow RRBC Bloggers at https://ravereviewsbookclub.wordpress.com/rrbc-member-chat/
Blessings!
Patty Perrin (writing as P.T.L. Perrin)
January 30, 2023 – Day 29 of #ADayInMyLife @PTLPerrin 30-Day #Blogging Challenge 2023 @RRBC_org @RRBC_RWISA @Tweets4RWISA #RRBC #RWISA
1-30-23, Day 29 In PTL Perrin’s Life
Welcome to day twenty-nine of A Day In My Life! Happy Monday! (Only one more day after this to complete the challenge!)
A few years ago, Bill and I checked off one item on our bucket list. We visited Germany, and I showed him some of my favorite childhood stomping grounds.
When my parents moved us to Germany back in the 1900s, the first place we landed was Heidelberg. Mom was born and raised in Germany, and her brother was superintendent of the city schools. Dad found us a large apartment in a house two blocks down the hill from Heidelberg castle, and so the castle grounds became our playground. Our cousins had found a way into the battlements, and since they spoke a little English, we enjoyed many games of knights and battles. We didn’t speak German yet, and I felt completely out of place in the school, but loved playing in the castle grounds.
These are typical houses below the castle. I didn’t remember which one we lived in, but it looked like the one on the hill.
I felt right at home in the courtyard. From there we took a tour of the inside, where many furnishings are original. Like most castles, Heidelberg has its legends. The wine barrel in the cellar is so large, they built a platform on top big enough to be a dance floor. According to legend, a greedy wine keeper drank every drop in the barrel on a dare.
Bill and I spent most of the trip in Bavaria, the southernmost state in Germany. We visited my brother and his family (all six of their children were born and raised there), and my sister, who had raised her two children near Nuremberg, but now lived near and worked with our brother. Munich is in Bavaria, and they lived south of Munich.
Here are a few scenes in no particular order.
I HAD to show you the cute vehicles we saw! The one on the right is a delivery TRUCK! Is this our future?
I love how they decorate their buildings. I thought you might get a kick out of the bookstore name. Buch means book.
The bakery deserves its own picture. I can smell it from here! Heavenly!
My brother’s family lives very close to the Chiemsee, which is also called the Bavarian Sea. King Ludwig II had this castle, Herrenchiemsee, built in the 1870s. I heard he nearly bankrupted the government with this vacation home. As large and ornate as it is, he only spent a few days there. We needed sunglasses inside the building because of the excessive use of gold leaf all over everything. A bit over-the-top.
One of the many highlights of the trip was our visit to Salzburg, Austria, the home of Mozart. We visited a number of years ago, so here are some random scenes with no descriptions.
Hohensalzburg Fortress sits atop the city like a medieval helmet. Click on the link for an aerial view. We took the funicular from the city to avoid climbing a gazillion steps, and I truly felt the weight of history. The fortress is nearly 950 years old, which means the homes inside the walls, where people still appear to live, are also ancient. The doorways in the houses looked like they were made for children.
Before we visited the final castle, we took a trip to the Black Forest to see my youngest sister and her family. She and her husband had settled in Germany after many years in the Middle East. We toured a small lake where we bought our cuckoo clock in a store that looked like one. I took a photo of the blue Citroen because I once caught a ride in one, and the seats were like sling lawn chairs, you opened the windows by popping them with your elbow (they swung out and up and latched on the outside of the car), and the ride was like riding on a cloud!
The final castle we visited was the one Disney used as a model for their Cinderella castle in Disney World. Neuschwanstein was another one commissioned by King Ludwig II. He started construction in 1869 and lived in this castle. Some of the more modern touches inside surprised me, and it wasn’t nearly as ornate as Herrenchiemsee. No sunglasses required. I thought this was the most beautiful of all.
Bill had to get back home after two weeks, and I stayed in Europe for another two weeks. My sister and I flew to Spain to see Mom. Did I mention I’d broken my leg walking down from Neuschwanstein? I made the rest of the trip with a cast! It didn’t slow me down one bit. Tomorrow, I’ll share some Spain photos.
Here’s my to-do list for today:
- Write my daily blog. (Check!)
- Read the blogs of everyone participating in this challenge and comment. (daily)
- Take a nap.
- Spend an hour or so editing.
- Relax with dinner and a movie and my knight in shining armor.
Thank you for reading my blog today, and please visit my friends and fellow RRBC Bloggers at https://ravereviewsbookclub.wordpress.com/rrbc-member-chat/
Blessings!
Patty Perrin (writing as P.T.L. Perrin)
January 29, 2023 – Day 28 of #ADayInMyLife @PTLPerrin 30-Day #Blogging Challenge 2023 @RRBC_org @RRBC_RWISA @Tweets4RWISA #RRBC #RWISA
1-29-23, Day 28 In PTL Perrin’s Life
Welcome to day twenty-eight of A Day In My Life! Happy Sunday! (I keep getting my days mixed up, but I think I’ve got it now.)
Happy Anniversary to the Love of my Life!
We’ve been married twenty-nine years, and although it shows in every wrinkle, time hasn’t dimmed our smiles one bit. God has blessed us with a long, happy marriage, a large dynamic family, and years of trust and growth and faith and fun together. It’s been a blast, and we both pray God will give us many more years together on this side of Heaven.
When Bill and I met, we didn’t think we had much of anything in common. I’d never picked up a tennis racquet and wasn’t sure what a tennis pro did. His idea of the ideal motorcycle was a Vespa scooter, and mine was a bit bigger and faster. He didn’t like snakes and I had one. I give him a lot of credit for tolerating my ball python, Archimedes, until we sold it and moved to Florida.
What we did have in common was our love for God, for each other, and for our children. He had five kids and I had three. We survived the blending process, which resembled throwing us all into a blender and turning it on. The chaotic, drama-filled days eventually smoothed out into a relatively peaceful blend, where the many flavors melded while retaining their individual savor.
Our faith grew stronger through every challenge, of which there were many. We took our two fully-formed lives apart and learned to fit them together into our own. We made a ton of mistakes as we maneuvered our way through adolescence and young adulthood with each of the kids. We stumbled our way through resentments, tantrums, divided loyalties, questionable choices, identity crises, and driving lessons, and came to a place of understanding, acceptance, and love.
Through it all, Bill exhibited much more grace than I did. He always knew when we needed to get away, and thankfully, we started a business together that afforded us the luxury of travel. We’ve made wonderful friends all over the country and the world. Our children have grown up and live successful lives with partners and people they love, and they’ve given us beautiful grandkids.
We consider ourselves blessed beyond measure, and live each day in gratitude. Bill makes it easy. He is genuine, a man of integrity without an iota of guile or malice in him. He sees the best in people, and brings it out of them. He’s patient and courageous, generous and funny, and he’s quick to forgive. I, in turn, laugh at all his dad jokes every time he tells them. They’re funny to me every time! He says I add pizzazz to his life. I sometimes wonder if he means pizzas.
In short, we’re a great match. These have been the quickest, richest, and best twenty-nine years of my life. Happy Anniversary, Sweetheart! May the Lord give us many more!
Is there anything you’re celebrating this month? I’d love to know and celebrate with you!
Here’s my to-do list for today:
- Write my daily blog. (Check!)
- Read the blogs of everyone participating in this challenge and comment. (daily)
- Take a nap.
- Read while Bill watches the Eagles play.
- Go out to dinner with Bill.
Thank you for reading my blog today, and please visit my friends and fellow RRBC Bloggers at https://ravereviewsbookclub.wordpress.com/rrbc-member-chat/
Blessings!
Patty Perrin (writing as P.T.L. Perrin)
January 28, 2023 – Day 27 of #ADayInMyLife @PTLPerrin 30-Day #Blogging Challenge 2023 @RRBC_org @RRBC_RWISA @Tweets4RWISA #RRBC #RWISA
1-28-23, Day 27 In PTL Perrin’s Life
Welcome to day twenty-seven of A Day In My Life! Happy Friday!
Imagine, if you will, lining up behind the columns in the central street in this photo, out of sight, dressed in cap and gown, and waiting for the opening notes of Pomp and Circumstance. In my graduating class of forty students, I stepped out onto the steep ramp into the illusion of perspective, careful not to fall. Number three in my class, I made my way to a seat on the stage. We faced a curved amphitheater where our families and friends cheered as we graduated. It was 1968, and this theater was nearly 400 years old.
Built in 1580-85 by Andrea Palladio, a resident of Vicenza, Italy, and the most influential architect of his time, the Teatro Olimpico is the oldest surviving Renaissance theater in the world. And it’s where we American students got to graduate.
Vicenza is a beautiful town midway between Verona, where Romeo and Juliet lived, loved, and perished (in fiction), and Venice, known for its canals, gondolas, and blown glass figures. We also knew it for its fishy scent, art museums, and pigeons that would perch on your shoulders if you dared take out a snack in Piazza San Marco.
I’m a bit nostalgic today because I found a cache of some photos we took with old Brownie cameras back in the 1900s. The photos you see above came from an internet search. As teens, we hung out at the Piazza dei Signori after we shared pizzas at Duo Ruote, the best pizzeria in the world. We lived on a side of Monte Berico, off a narrow road we accessed near the Basilica. The church sits at the top of the mountain overlooking the city. The inside shone brighter than the outside with all the gold in there. I added the photo of a villa just like the many that dotted the land around the city. One of the teachers at the DoD school we attended lived in one like this.
Our villa was smaller and the land around it not as well manicured. We had a variety of fruit trees and vineyards and one tall pine we’d climb for a spectacular view of the valley.
I had a room with a balcony. My brother loved to climb the iron grate of the downstairs window, jump onto the balcony, and scare the daylights out of me.
You can see the slope of the road in front of our gate. We kids would walk about a quarter mile to the bottom of the hill to catch the school bus. We also had to walk UP it after school. A neighborhood St. Bernard named Topo (for a cartoon mouse) lost control running down that hill one day. He’d picked up so much speed, he couldn’t stop. My brother and I hopped out of his way as he passed, eyes wild, tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth, flapping in the wind. We watched him reach the intersection in the village below at the exact moment a Fiat 500 did. Topo barreled into the car, knocked it over on its side, and staggered to a stop. He sat down, shook his head, and wandered away. Meanwhile, the family of five inside the car, opened the door, now on top, and climbed out. The papa screamed Italian curses at the poor dog, while Dan and I laughed all the way home.
I’m front and center in the photo of the family gathering, surrounded by siblings, German cousins, aunts, an uncle, and my Opa — Mom’s dad.
I won’t post the photos of our annual beach vacations along the Adriatic and Mediterranean coasts. However, I will share these pictures of a boat my dad fashioned from an old dinghy he rescued. His boat sailed so well, a company bought his design to mass produce them. He thought it bobbed nicely, but didn’t have enough speed, so he built a better one after he and Mom moved to Spain.
I hope you’ve kept old photos that bring back pleasant memories. I enjoy being invited to share your journeys, so please keep posting them!
Here’s my to-do list for today:
- Write my daily blog. (Check!)
- Read the blogs of everyone participating in this challenge and comment. (daily)
- Read and critique my writer’s group’s chapters.
- Take a nap.
- Spend an hour editing my friend’s book.
- Relax with dinner and a movie and Bill.
Thank you for reading my blog today, and please visit my friends and fellow RRBC Bloggers at https://ravereviewsbookclub.wordpress.com/rrbc-member-chat/
Blessings!
Patty Perrin (writing as P.T.L. Perrin)
January 27, 2023 – Day 26 of #ADayInMyLife @PTLPerrin 30-Day #Blogging Challenge 2023 @RRBC_org @RRBC_RWISA @Tweets4RWISA #RRBC #RWISA
1-27-23, Day 26 In PTL Perrin’s Life
Welcome to day twenty-six of A Day In My Life! Happy Friday!
Have you ever written something and THEN taken time to do your research on that topic? I did, and here’s what I found.
My first book in the Tetrasphere series is set in a fictitious Cherokee reservation called Blue Mountain in North Carolina. The setting is loosely based on the existing reservation in Cherokee, NC. My four main characters live in Blue Mountain, and they meet for the first time at the high school there, except for the twins who grew up together.
Some of the landmarks I used were NOT fictitious, including Clingman’s Dome. At 6,643 feet, Clingmans Dome has the highest point in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I added an observatory, which only exists in the story.
I had never been to Cherokee or Clingman’s Dome, but I’d been to the Smokies and loved the woods, streams, and mountain views. After I published the book, I became curious. Was the reservation anything like I described it? Does the terrain resemble what I wrote? There was only one way to find out.
My daughter and I decided we were overdue for a Mother/Daughter trip together. Wouldn’t it be fun to research my already-published book?
I planned the trip during hurricane season (June1 – November 30), which is when we normally traveled. It just so happened that a hurricane was churning in the Atlantic when I drove up from Florida to visit some of our family and friends. Bill stayed home to take care of his elderly mom. A few days after I left, Hurricane Matthew grew into a Category 5 storm and appeared to have made our county its target. Bill and our son secured our homes from the expected onslaught. At the last minute, the storm turned northward and skirted the length of Florida’s coast, causing no significant damage.
D and I set out from her place in Raleigh the day Hurricane Matthew hit North Carolina along the coast. We headed west into the mountains, expecting that Raleigh was far enough from the sea to avoid damage. The photo below shows the only indication we had that a major storm was pummeling the rest of the state. Rolling clouds threatened to spill over the mountaintops and pour into the valleys below.
Cherokee was everything I’d imagined it to be. D and I visited a replica of an early village, where people made beautiful bead-work crafts, tested weapons for hunting, and told stories complete with dances at the fake sacred stomping grounds. The location the real grounds is kept secret.
I carried an open golf umbrella to protect us, not from wet weather, since it didn’t rain at all, but from a rain of nuts shooting out of the surrounding trees. It sounded like gunfire! Felt like hail. Other tourists joined us under our mobile shelter and we moved like a multi-legged amoeba.
After we left the village, we drove through the mountains. D and I found places where some of the actions in the book might have happened. My daughter had a great camera and took a lot of pictures. These are not those.
The next day, we headed up to Clingman’s Dome. It grew colder and mistier the higher we drove. The two lane road was wide enough for two cars to comfortably pass going in opposite directions, but with steep slopes on one side and a narrow railing to protect against a plunge down a cliff on the other, it was slow and careful going.
I watched in amazement as car-sized puffs of mist exploded from the trees around us. One such mini-cloud formed a hand that reached out to grab our car! We drove through it. It was only mist. I don’t care what scientists say. Clouds come from trees. I saw it with my own, wide, frightened eyes.
We didn’t make it all the way to the top of Clingman’s Dome, but we did make it all the way into the roiling clouds, where we decided it was a good idea to turn back. The drive down was much less dramatic.
When we got home, Raleigh had survived the edge of the storm, but much of eastern North Carolina was flooded. I-95 had been washed out in places, so I took a lot of really cool back roads westward before I could turn south on the turnpike. My drive back home to Florida took several detours and an extra day, but the trip was worth every inconvenience.
The verdict of our post-publication research? I nailed it!
Here’s my to-do list for today:
- Write my daily blog. (Check!)
- Read the blogs of everyone participating in this challenge and comment. (daily)
- Read and critique my writer’s group’s chapters.
- Take a nap. (Check! 15 minute Power Nap done)
- Spend a few hours editing my friend’s book. (Check!)
- Relax with dinner and a movie and Bill.
Thank you for reading my blog today, and please visit my friends and fellow RRBC Bloggers at https://ravereviewsbookclub.wordpress.com/rrbc-member-chat/
Blessings!
Patty Perrin (writing as P.T.L. Perrin)
PTL Perrin Writes... 