Finding Something Friday : Laptops and YALitchat

Let me begin by saying I LOVE MY NEW LAPTOP! (I'm saying that extra loud, just in case PC is listening.) I know we're not supposed to love things, but I can't help myself. PC has these amazingly mad skills.

There's just one eensy-teensy problem. (And now I'm whispering because I don't want PC's feelings to get hurt any more than they already are.) I can't always figure out how to make these mad skills work. It's not him-it's me. But after spending 45 minutes with PC, trying to move a simple thing around on the Hall of Fame (and making some updates), I finally had to give up and move to my desktop computer (where I zipped through the tasks in 10 minutes). So, today you'll find a few changes here at Cathy C.'s Hall of Fame. And hopefully, PC and I will work through this "bad patch" and everything will be hunky-dory again between us.

Here's something else I love: YALitchat! Since my latest work-in-progress is Young Adult, I've been zipping around, looking for interesting YA sites and such. When I found YALitchat (a community for folks who write, read and live YA), I knew I'd found a spot with amazingly good stuff, like agents, contests, and writing support. So, you can find me there, hanging out, soaking it all in. You can friend me, too, if you're there.

But um, keep it on the down low. I'm not sure how PC feels about my virtual friends.

What Not To Do Wednesday on Taking Writing Chances

Oh, I know how it is, grasshopper. You see a writing opportunity that's swell, but still. You start talking to yourself. Saying things like "I'm not experienced enough," or "I'm not well-known enough," or I'm not cute enough." Um, maybe that's just me.

Anyway, it all comes down to this kind of thinking: "I'd never have a chance for something like that." So, you skip the writing opportunity until...until when, grasshopper? If you wait till you think you're experienced enough, or famous enough, or just plain good enough, then you may never break free from your writing ruts.

Don't do that, grasshopper. Take a chance and see where your writing can take you. And yeah, that's my name in the February Writer's Digest. Looking all cute as a button.

Finding Something Friday: First Round Finalists at Reading Writers

If I'm being perfectly honest, I didn't find the First Round Finalists in the Reading Writers contest just today. Today, I found that my new laptop has a dark side. I still love PC, but the bloom is off the rose, if you catch my drift.

Speaking of drifts, the Reading Writers Flash Fiction contest involved a snow theme. Which must have struck a chilly but brilliant chord with the Hall of Fame followers. Because when I saw a tweet saying the first round of finalists had been posted, I recognized quite a few names when I dashed over to the contest cafe. (What's that? You didn't know Reading Writers was on Twitter? Go sign up. Wait! Read this post, then sign up.)

There was Donna! And there was Linda! And there was Lisa, too (who can now relax, knowing her entry made it to the contest, after all)!

So, pooh-pooh to the snow! I'm all warm and fuzzy inside, sharing "Excellence in Milieu" (gosh, doesn't that have a grand sound to it?) with these fine writers! Best of luck to us...and if one of y'all win, do I get a finder's fee?

Thursday's Three: Cool Contests for Writers

Notice I did not say writing contests. That's because these contests don't require you to think up scathingly brilliant books, stories, poems or plays. You will, however, have to think up something if you want to win. And then post that thought as a comment to win fabulous prizes. And while you're dashing about commenting, you're going to get even more scathingly brilliant, courtesy of some pretty awesome blogs.

Three Cool Contests:

O'Juliet, The O'Juliet Love Games (There are several contests running at Robin Maxwell's blog. You can win jewelry and a very cool writing journal.)

Jill Myles' Book Tour (Check out Market My Words for the Book Tour stops. Then comment on each stop for a chance to win a critique from agent Holly Root.)

Becky Povich: Writer (Becky's having her first contest and giving away your choice of Kelly Stone's books: Thinking Write or Time to Write.)

Now, if any of these writing prizes sound like something you must have, then shoo! Because time, tide, and blog contests wait for no man (or woman).

Tooting My Horn Tuesday on Bylines Calendar 2010!

Wow! I had a bit of a book bonanza when I went to the mailbox today! But too much tooting's not very nice, so...Um, that didn't come out quite right. Er, neither did that. Let's just move on, shall we?

I found my Bylines 2010 Writer's Desk Calendar and there I was, right across from Christmas week, sounding off on some writerly thing. But that's not all I found in this splendiferous desk calendar. There's a page for you to list (and check off!) writing goals, as well as monthly Writer To Do pages. You'll find a submission tracker, pages for conference notes, an expenses sheet, a mileage sheet, web sources, and probably a lot more writing stuff I'm leaving out. Obviously, you need this desk calendar. But you can't have mine. You can order your own from the Bylines website.

And you know what else I found? I saw a lot of writers I recognized. Check out the Submission guidelines here. 'Cause next year, I want to find you in the Bylines Calendar 2011!

Finding Something Friday on Chicken Soup's Family Matters (and Tweeting Such)

Sometime this week, I found an email in my Inbox from the Chicken Soup folks. But I just got around to reading it today. Perfect for Finding Something Friday!

Apparently, people just love nutty family stories. You know what I mean: those knee-slapping tales about your mom or dad or cousins or sister-in-law doing those weird and wacky things that made you want to slap them smack in the...um, well, someday you'll laugh at those stories. Right now, other people will find them HI-larious. So, write them down, send them in to Chicken Soup, and make a bunch of money off Uncle Bob backing into your car so he wouldn't hit a pregnant squirrel. You won't make enough money to fix the car, but you can wave the check in Uncle Bob's face. Oh, and act fast. Deadline is February 28th.

I also found out that on this day in 1929, Martin Luther King Jr. was born in Atlanta. I got that factoid from the Atlanta History Center. Technically, I got that bit of info from a tweet, 'cause the Atlanta History Center is on Twitter. So, if you think Twitter is just 140 character lines about what's for dinner, it's time you checked out your museums, aquariums, news services, and even charities. Twitter's amazing. And okay, a little bit weird and wacky.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that the photo of the Beneficent Mr. Hall that goes along with this post in no way is meant to imply that he is weird and wacky. I can't help what you infer.

Thomas Nelson Book Reviews (Part Deux)

Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna tell you about the Thomas Nelson name change and how you can review books, and all that jazz. But it has suddenly dawned upon me why I may not be Patty Productive.

27 minutes ago, I sat down and signed in to write this here post. But then, I got shanghaied by the recent posts of blogs I follow. And you know, people are so interesting, with their contests, and their funny thoughts, and their hopes and dreams and needs. So, I may have been just the teensiest bit distracted.

Anyway, back to Thomas Nelson, the folks who have renamed their book review program to BookSneeze. See, the idea is that interest in a book is caught, as in going viral. So, if you're a blogger, and you agree to write a review (it doesn't have to be positive; any old achoo review will do) on your blog and a consumer site, then you're good to go review your heart out.

TNP Books available tend to the spiritual side, but you'll find occasional YA or juvenile fiction. There's no pay, only the benefit of a book and the opportunity to stretch your writing wings.

And honestly, I completely forgot I'd signed up for Thom-um, BookSneeze until I saw the email about the name change. Guess I somehow got distracted.

Finding Something Friday on Snow and Contests

Snow! Glorious snow! How happy you make me! When I am inside, and don't have to take you!

Yep, me and Oliver are singing our hearts out about snow here in my cold corner of Dixie. I realize that for those of you who do have to actually go out in the snow, perhaps even blizzards (brrrrrr!), this might not be a singing occasion. Um, sorry.

BUT, I've found a glorious snow contest for you, and that should be worth something, right? It's brought to you by ReadingWriters (I found it in The Verb ezine, which is the monthly newsletter of ReadingWriters. You can find out all about these fine folks here.) As for the contest, you must write something scathingly brilliant which somehow incorporates snow. And you must be brilliant in 500 words or less. Now, if you're stuck in your house, snowbound, so to speak, you've got plenty of time to be brilliant. So, you see I had your back all along.

One more eensy, teensy thing. You only have till January 15th. So put down the hot chocolate and start writing. Wait! You'll need details! Go to the Contest Cafe here. And sign up for that ezine while you're there. Elizabeth Guy, Verb editor, always has something worth reading!

(Snow! Glorious snow! Give me inspiration! My brain is so cold! It's in hibernation!)

Thursday's Three: Blogs, Blogs, and Surprise! Blogs

So, here's the thing. It's a new year, a new day, a new feature here at the Hall of Fame: the Thursday's Three, where you'll find three sites to check out on a particular topic. Most likely, the topic will be writing-related. But I'm not making any major promises here.

(If I'm being perfectly honest, I'm only adding this feature so that I can read this stuff myself. Because I have this other thing. I bookmark stuff I want to read, and then never actually, um, read it. On the other hand, I hang out here at the Hall of Fame all the time, making a nuisance of myself. Might as well do something constructive while I'm here.)

Three Links to Bang-up Blogging Stuff:

Problogger's 13 Tutorials to Help You Grow Your Blog Readership Next Year

Retro Coolness's Try Using Google Adsense to Help You Monetize Your Blog

Copyblogger's The Best of Copyblogger 2009

Um, that's pretty much all there is to Thursday's Three. I've got a feeling it'll help tremendously if we actually read this stuff.

Tooting My Horn Tuesday on WINNERS! The Enchanted Conversation and The Giveaway

Oh, how I love the smell of victory in the morning!

So, come celebrate with me over at The Enchanted Conversation, a new blogazine (what will they think of next?) that debuted on January 1st! I love the genre of this blogazine (Fairy Tales! Woohoo!) and I love that the editor, Kate Wolford, worked hard to get her new venture out despite the difficulties of a business start-up AND is paying her contributors (Double WooHoo!)! All that combines to make The Enchanted Conversation a winner. And maybe you'll be a winner if you enter one of the contests going on over there right now.

Then you can read my poem "The Problem with Fairy Tales." Or read my poem, then enter the contest. Yeah, that's the ticket. And if you write a scathingly brilliant comment about my poem (or anything else, for that matter), you might win 25 bucks! C'mon, how easy is that? I'd love to see one of the Hall of Fame regulars win! Heck, I'd like to see me win. So, it's on, people. May the best comment-er win!

Speaking of best comment-ers, I had plenty of readers' comments on the Hall of Fame in December. I really wish I could have pulled everyone's lovely name out of Santa's Hat for the First Holiday Hall of Fame Giveaway (Have you noticed I've called this contest something different every time???)

The point is, Juniorest Hall, who is by far the most honest of the clan, drew GAIL'S name out of the hat! So, Woohoo for Gail, the winner of lots of wonderful writing whatnot! Gail, send me your address and your package will arrive soon.

Isn't that a lovely way to start the New Year? And now, I think I smell something else...I'm gonna call it Sally the crazy dog (and go take a shower).