Finding Something Fridays About an (Almost) Anthology Submission

I know they say that patience is a virtue. It's just that I'm not that virtuous...patience-wise.


When I found an email, Subject: Christmas Traditions Status, I was hoping to hear that Wheee! My story had been selected for said anthology. Fame! Fortune! Happy New Year to me! But no. The editor did say that she had culled down her entries and that my story was in the running (along with 200 others). She also reiterated that there is still time to send a (or another, I suppose) brilliant holiday tradition story, as long as you get it in by January 5th. If you look back at November 26th, you can get all the info you need about this market. I'm just saying-

And since we're talking in sayings, here's another one: "He who hesitates is lost." Now change the "lost" to "loses" and you'll found out what happens if you don't send in your brilliant speculative fiction to SFReader (or to be precise, their contest) by December 31st, midnight. I'm just saying-

And while I'm at it, I'll add another well-known saying: A winner never quits and a quitter just sits around whining about how she would have won if only she'd submitted something brilliant.

Or maybe that's just well-known to Cathy C. Hall. But I'm sure you can relate. I'm just saying-

Finding Something Fridays (Except it's Saturday)

It's just that by the time I finished watching Johnny Depp slash his way through London, I was wore out. But I really wanted to share what I'd found, especially since I've intended to share this wonderful website for quite awhile.

It's so easy to avoid actually writing by reading really great websites and blogs about writing. So I try to limit my browsing. Still, there is one site, Writer Unboxed, that I absolutely won't skip. And when I rushed over yesterday to see what was new, I found this awesome clip from YouTube and Straight No Chaser.

Some day, I'll find out how to add a YouTube video to my blog. But for now, check out Writer Unboxed. And not just for the holiday video of Straight No Chaser. If you write fiction, I guarantee you'll find plenty to help you navigate the Road to Publication. I have a feeling those writers may be a little further along the way than Cathy C. Hall.

That's okay, though. There's enough of the pie for us all to share. (As long as it's not one of Mr. Todd's meat pies.)

What Not to Do Wednesday, Sorta, Kinda

In August, when I received the e-mail explaining how I could be compensated for interviews or book signings (see Cup of Comfort for Dog Lovers), I sorta, kinda put that e-mail in some file and figured I'd get back to it later. Because, deep down, I have this sorta, kinda lazy streak when it comes to promoting myself.

But then I mentioned the idea of an interview to my friends at Our Town Magazine and they were happy to oblige. They'd get right on that. Except that one thing led to another...the publicist changed jobs, so I'd have to get in touch with the new publicist. Who sent the wrong Cup of Comfort book in the press kit to Our Town. And then I lost the address of the Our Town editor. I think you get the picture. For a sorta, kinda lazy person like me, this was turning into a major ordeal.

It would have been easier, at this point, to forget about the interview; I mean, the Fame or Fortune was not going to rock my world. But that would have been classic Cathy C. Hall "What Not To Do" behavior. So I went back to work on it, did the interview, sent in the paperwork, and waited.



Just the other day, I received a check. Compensation for my interview that appeared in Our Town Magazine in November. Since I'd completely forgotten about the whole episode (which is also classic Cathy C. Hall behavior) I danced around the kitchen, singing "Do You See What I See?" Cup of Comfort for Dog Lovers version.


See what happens, little grasshopper, when you apply yourself. (Especially when you'd rather sorta, kinda take a nap.)

Finding Something Fridays and the Whidbey Writers Workshop Competition

I just checked the Whidbey Writers Workshop page and found out that a December winner has already been posted. I mean, what's today anyway, the 12th, 13th? I didn't even have time to consider what scathingly brilliant piece of prose I would send. Maybe there's some truth to that whole "early bird catching the worm" thing.

It does say on the website not to dilly dally about each month if you hope to claim the Fame and Fortune. You can read for yourself (http://www.whidbeystudents.com/WSContest.htm) and get all the pertinent details on the monthly competition. Then you'll be ready when January rolls around.

But not if I get there first.

What Not to Do Wednesday (Again with the Proofreading)

Last Wednesday, we encountered that classic proofreading "What Not To Do." Namely, the family faux pas (don't ask immediate members thereof to check your work. Just don't. As in do not EVER unless you want to drag everyone to the next therapy session.)

So who you gonna call? It's not like there is a ProofreadersBusters hanging around waiting to check out your manuscript. Or maybe there is.

They're called writing critique groups, and you'd be surprised how many of those are, in fact, hanging around waiting to check out your manuscript. But finding the right group...ah, there's the rub. Do you go with a specialty genre group or a general writing group? Do you want folks who are in the business of writing for Fame or Fortune, or folks who just like to write for Fun? Do you jump into an online critique group or drive across town to the library?

Well, little grasshopper, there are some things you must find out for yourself. Like what group is the best fit for you. Because, believe me, groups have personalities, styles, character. And you want to choose a group that matches yours. That's the way to success.

A good critique group can fix a writing problem, keep you on track, and give you support. I know that's what my buddies at the Centerville Writers do for me. Come to think of it, my group is a little like a therapy session (with a few grammar tips thrown in). So don't sit around, reading your manuscript over and over again, wishing for an extra pair of eyes to give you a little insight. Go out and find your own ProofreadersBusters.






P.S. Or visit the Centerville Writers the first and third Thursday of the month, from 10 until noon at the Centerville Community Center.

Waiter! There's a Fly

At the "Out with the Old, In with the New" Our Town Magazine luncheon, I got a gift. Just in time for Christmas.



Actually, I received a nice card, of which a nice gift was
enclosed. But that's not the gift I oohed and ahhed over. Janet Lennox gave me another gift: a book called Zanzibar Zoop, The Soup Swimming Fly.


Janet's husband, Jeff (don't you love married folks who have match-y names like Janet and Jeff?) wrote this charming children's tale about a fly in the split pea soup and how this little bug helped saved the day.

Jeff is a physician by day and a writer by, well, other times of the day. Besides his children's book, he also writes a column for Our Town Magazine. Maybe Janet talked him into that role, since she was one of the magazine's publishers.

Now Our Town is changing hands; we have a new publisher, Delfy Flores and his lovely wife, Norma (admit it, you thought of Marilyn Monroe, didn't you?). So I guess I'll be working for them, now.

But I'll always be thankful for friends like Janet. Without the gift of Our Town Magazine, I may never have found my writing niche. Or had the chance to read Zanzibar Zoop.

Gifts, Christmas, friends. I'm feeling pretty Fortune-ate.

Finding Something Fridays: Buh-Bye Cowardly Lion

Bright and early this morning, I found courage.

I asked about compensation for my work...to be specific, I questioned whether I might receive a tiny Fortune on a column that I've been writing "for the love." I do love writing that column. But it was time for me to make a statement. Am I a writer who's just writing for the fun of it? Or am I writer in the business of writing?

I swallowed hard and named a price. And the publisher said, "Yes, yes, of course." It was that easy.

So, ask for what you deserve. All it takes is a little courage to become the Queen of the Jungle.

What Not to Do Wednesday Re: Asking Advice from Family (Hint: Don't)

Really, I don't like to pick on Mr. Hall. He is, after all, usually the beneficent Mr. Hall. But there are times when he is not so beneficent. And since this is Wednesday, I feel duty-bound to expose the un-beneficence of Mr. Hall as a classic "What Not To Do" on the Road to Publication.



Which is the long way of saying that one shouldn't ask one's family members to read one's scathingly brilliant work. It can never go well. Never.

Take my latest column in the Atlanta Journal Constitution as Exhibit A (which you can read here if you search Cathy C. Hall). Even though I KNOW better, I asked Mr. Hall to take a quick look at it before I sent it off.

Naturally, Mr. Hall found something wrong. I suppose the defense could argue that Mr.Hall very generously (thus proving his beneficence) threw out a few "constructive" criticisms in my direction. But, and here's my point about asking family to check your work, these "proofreading discussions" can get quite out-of-hand. Before you can say "Judge Judy" the proofreading is out the window altogether and the discussion has degenerated into what a certain brother-in-law said at the last family gathering about a certain someone's over-cooked chicken.

So, little grasshopper, if you want to stay on speaking terms with your beloved, do not ask for his opinion about what you have written. It never goes well. Never. (I rest my case.)

A Flashy Little Something

Wonder what it says about a person who likes her fiction fast and furious, with a bit of a twisty-twist at the end? Kind of like Johnny Depp, as the barber Sweeney Todd...I'm sure there's some deep and creepy psychological reasoning, just below the surface, that explains my bent towards that kind of writing. Best not to look too closely at that.

But you can look closely at MysteryAuthors.com, where you'll find my flash story "Resolution" in the holiday issue of the webzine. "Resolution" is a little something I cooked up last December, but never sent out. So when I saw this opportunity, I was all over it like Sweeney on a beard.

The editor publishes a quarterly issue of flash stories, and hey, a little bit of Fame is better than nothing. Which is what you've got with a story sitting around in a Document file. So dust something off and send it in. I like to read flash as much as I like to write it. And I'll finish reading all the other Minute Mysteries as soon as I'm done with Johnny D.