Member Snapshot: Sherry Perkins

by Sherry Perkins

Where do you get your news?

Since I don’t have a TV--But, silly me, people don’t really get news from TV, do they?--I get my first slug of it at 6:00 AM on public radio, KBCS, 91.3, from Democracy Now, with Amy Goodman. She covers stories you don’t hear elsewhere, and breaks news that trickles into mainstream news days later. If I sleep through her program in the morning, I try to catch her in the evening at 5:00 on the same station, or by reading the text version on www.democracynow.org.

I also listen to either KPLU or KBCS on my car radio, which have good news bits from NPR or BBC, respectively. I think BBC is better than NPR.

When I log onto AOL, if there’s something momentous that’s happened in the world, they may have it.

What’s your order in a coffee shop?

My order depends on the weather outside. If it’s cold, I order a decaf tall nonfat latte. If it’s hot, I order a passion tea grande with no sweetener: refreshing and tangy. Try it!

If you knew you could not fail, what would you do?

I’d become a jazz singer, maybe in a small neighborhood lounge. It would give me a chance to explore some of the older music I love, touch the hearts of the locals, and get out of my jeans and sweatshirts, into something spangly and glamorous.

Where do you get your ideas for writing?

Occasionally my ideas come from dreams, but I usually need some kind of assignment. That’s why I enjoy writing workshops, where we’re told to write the answer to a question or to write something on a certain theme or situation. Even timed writes, based on a couple of words can send me off on some story or character study.

There’s a book called What If? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers by Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter that has tons of "assignments" in it. I’ve gotten some of my best stories by responding to those.

How did you learn about Writergrrls?

When I was still a technical writer and active in Society for Technical Communication (STC), one of their members turned me on to Writergrrls. I’ve been an avid lurker ever since.

Describe your writing routine.

That’s easy. I don’t have one. I believe I write better in the morning. But since I lose all track of time when I write, and since I have to be at my job around noon, it’s probably better for me to write in the evening, and cut into my sleep, rather than into my work time.

If I have an assignment or an idea, I do a lot of composing in my head as I do other things for a couple of days. Then, when I sit down to write, it comes pretty easily. Like a lot of us, I hate the editing and revising, but realize it must be done. So, if I’m smart, once my first draft is done, I try not to reread it more than a couple of times. Otherwise, I get too enamored with my own words, and then it’s impossible for me to think of how they can be improved upon. After a few days, I come back to it, and if I’m lucky I can see things that need changing.

I like to have more than one piece going at a time, so that I don’t get bored with one.

What are you currently reading?

I’m currently struggling to finish From Age-ing to Sage-ing, by Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Ronald S. Miller. In the beginning, I found it very repetitious. Once I got past that, there are some great ideas and attitudes for those of us who are older, about what to do with the rest of our lives, and how to give back some of the gifts we’ve gained from this life.

My book club just finished reading The Quiet American by Graham Greene. I’d read it before and seen the film, but it was good to experience his wonderful prose again, and his exquisite handling of irresolvable ethical dilemmas. His books are much more the style of what I like to read.

Probably my next book will be The Great Turning, by David C. Korten.

What’s your favorite book this week?

Sorry, I rarely have a favorite anything, least of all a favorite book or author. I once had an assignment to write about my favorite color. Since I don’t have one, I picked puce. I thought it would be some sickly green. But it’s a rich cross between rust and maroon, I learned from my research. Oddly, in those old Regency novels, it was the color worn by the character you weren’t supposed to like. Then I found out why: Apparently puce is the French word for flea, and is the color of that little bug when he’s had his blood meal and has been squashed. Ewww! But I digress …

What’s your best quality?

My objectivity: the ability to take criticism without getting defensive, to see at least three sides to the question.

What would you change about yourself?

My verbosity. Enough said.

What are your writing passions?

Writing realistic dialog. While I enjoy reading descriptive prose, I usually move my stories along with dialog between two or three people, at the most.

Sherry Perkins has been a technical writer, itinerant newsletter publisher, and short story and essay writer for much of her life. Her addiction to collecting a steady paycheck has been a great copout to keep her from getting on with publishing her own stuff. She did publish a short environmental piece for the Washington Environmental Council, where she volunteers. She is the Minutesgrrl for the Steering Committee meetings of Writergrrls, and has published a couple of essays in Uncapped. She’s usually found reading or emceeing at Writergrrls’ Open Mic Nights.