Finding Something Friday: Baseball Beauties and VOICE

I found my latest ramblings up on Baseball Beauties today, so I thought that might be a fun way to start this fine Memorial Day weekend. But I also had a bit of a brainstorm (which doesn't happen often), so I'm throwing that in, too. Kinda like that ball from left field.

You know that Baseball Beauties is a site for fans of the female variety. But there's more to being a fan than gender. Like where to sit, or how to get the Mojo working. And today's topic, when to leave the ballpark. Take a look at Speaking of Categories of Baseball Fans. (And what the heck? Here's a bonus, 'cause it's a holiday weekend: The WHOLE world is Watching Your Error, in which I give a little insight into what I like to call "Growing Up a Hall."

Now it's on to the brainstorm. I'm getting ready to write an article for WOW-Women-on-Writing on that elusive beast we writers call VOICE. And I asked WOW readers/writers to give me a hand. And then I thought, "Wow! I should ask all of you scathingly brilliant readers/writers, too!" So, shoot me an email (cathyhall55 at hotmail dot com), telling me about your fave novel and include your thoughts on why the VOICE of the novel makes it so special/strong/unique, etc. If I use your comments, I'll give you a little link love, so be sure to send your website/blog url, too. And whee! You might end up in the next issue of WOW!

I think that's it. Except for one more thing: have a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend!

Thursday's Three: Twitter Apps (Get Your Followers Here)

I've been meaning to add the Twitter application to the old Hall of Fame for awhile, so today I did a little tweaking. And while I was flitting around, I came across a mess of Twitter applications.

But since this is Thursday's Three, I'll stick to applications having to do with finding like-minded folks out there on Twitter. Because it's all about following the leader(s) and getting them to follow you back. And most importantly, finding out what they know.

1. Just Tweet It (Find Other Twitter Users Just Like You)...So I found writers.

2. Twellow (The Twitter Yellow pages)...I looked up Media.

3. Wefollow (Just we follow)...so I followed writing. What can I say? I'm stuck in a rut.

Now, you can find similar applications on Twitter itself. But that's a busy, busy place-and you might have to wait awhile. So, I thought I'd throw these out for you, give you a head start in the following business. Because there's no thumb-twiddling at Twitter.

(P.S. Aren't those Twitter chicks cool? Check out Geek Sucks here to find more free Twitter icons.)

Tuesday Tip: Title Your Post with Contest

The other day (which is Southern for "could be last week or a year ago"), a writer friend left a comment, asking if I'd share some of my favorite spots to find contests.

Which got me thinking. How to find those contests quickly? Because even though I keep the Mondo Master Submission Tracker Notebook, which includes tons of contests, I'm much too lazy to write all that down for all my writer-ly friends (lovely as you are).

But what I can do, here on the blog, is direct you to that lovely tag o' mine, "Contest" (Or Contests, as the case may be). Click on that tag and you'll find posts about all kinds of contests. Granted, some may be book giveaways, and some may be one-time only contests. (Read fast and skip those.) But many will be annual contests. And I've usually thrown in links. So, tags are good. Tags are your firiends.

Which leads me to the Tuesday Tip. When it comes to tags, make 'em work with the title of your posts.Then everything ties together. For example, if you're writing about a contest, say the Highlights Fiction Contest, use that as a tag as well as the post title. The tag makes it easier for your readers to find information quickly. And the simple post title will come up in search engines, driving traffic to your blog. Assuming you want blog traffic.

Which brings me to the last point of the post. My friend, Gail, is having a contest, trying to grow her blog readership. And it seems to be working. Because when you use that Contest tag and post title, readers follow.

Finding Something Friday : A Tale of Two Birds

It was the best of times... (Look very closely, sort of in the middle of the photo, the back rim of the pot. See that little beak? That's Baby Bird.)




It was the worst of times. (One of the poor little eggs didn't hatch.)








Every spring, a wren nests somewhere in a plant on my deck or screened-in porch, so I've had lots of experience in picking up the signs for fledgling flight. I just knew this little bird was going to take off any day. And today was the day.

I was eating lunch, looking out the picture window, when I saw Momma Bird flitting around the deck. At first, I thought it was feeding time. But Momma Bird had bigger plans for the day. She hopped up to the lip of the flower pot and then dropped down beside the nest. Here's what happened, loosely translated.

MB: Rise and shine, Baby! Today's the day for you to take off!
BB: Mmmmph.
MB: (Poking beak into nest) Now, now, Baby, that's no way to greet the most exciting day of your life! Up you go!
BB: (Sticking his little head outside the nest) But I don't wanna.

Momma Bird trilled a "Let's go, dear!" and flew across the yard. Baby Bird ventured to the opening of the nest and stopped dead in his little tracks. "Moooommmmaaa!"

The minutes ticked away. Momma Bird trilled from a tree. "Come along, Baby Bird! You can't fly if you don't come out of the nest!" Baby Bird took a few tentative hops and ended up behind the nest, where he plopped down and refused to budge. After awhile, Momma Bird swooped down.

"Baby Bird, what's going on here? I haven't got all day for this foolishness. I've got places to fly to, worms to catch, Papa Birds to peck." And with a last buzz-by, Momma Bird yelled, "MOVE it!"

Baby Bird craned his little head up and watched Momma Bird fly away. But still he sat and sulked. "I don't know why I should leave this pot." He looked around. "This is a pretty good pot." He looked around again. "Moooommmmmaaaa! Are you just going to leave me in this lousy pot?"

Minutes passed while Baby Bird waited. Until a chirp rang out from the trees! Momma Bird called again. "BABY BIRD! C'mon, kiddo, time's a-wasting." Still, Baby Bird sat. Because by now, Baby Bird had built up this whole leaving-the-nest into a BIG thing and he was beside himself. Baby Bird needed to calm down and just leave the nest, already, but he was frozen to the spot.

When suddenly, Momma Bird swooped in, a worm in her beak. Not exactly anti-anxiety medication, but darn close in the bird world. Hop, hop, hop went Momma Bird around the pot.

BB: Is that worm for me?
MB: Leave the pot and you'll get the worm, dear.
BB: Can I just have the worm first? Then I'll leave the pot.
MB: NO! I mean, no, dear. Hop out of the pot, down here where I am, and you'll get the nice, juicy, worm.
BB: It does look good.
MB: Oh, it's good, alright. And it's all yours. When you leave the pot.

Baby Bird hopped up to the rim of the pot. Then, flop, down to the deck he landed. And just as Momma Bird promised, he got the worm. Off she flew, glancing behind her wing. And because Baby Bird didn't know how to hop back into the pot, he lifted his tiny, barely-feathered wings and flew.

"It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done," said Baby Bird (sounding far more grown-up than he did fifteen minutes ago).

(There's a writing analogy in there somewhere, but as you're all scathingly brilliant folks, I'm sure you can figure it out.)

Nobody Puts Baby in a Grammar Corner

Yesterday, whilst cleaning out some papers, I came across a short story critique.

Actually, there were three critiques, for this short story had been entered in a contest. Oh, how funny, I thought, reading the comments. Because although I'd forgotten the critiques, I had not forgotten the story. I'd made corrections to that story, and in fact, I'd sold it to an anthology. So, I was smiling and reading, thinking back on good times, until I read this:

"This story has potential, but the many grammar errors need to be addressed."

Now, you can say what you will about my lack of conflict in a plot. You can question my character's motivation. You can even throw out the ubiquitous "this doesn't work for me" comment. But nobody puts Baby in a corner.

Um, you know what I mean. I am not going to make a grammar error. Unless it's something like this where, technically, I'm using blog slang. I mean, I read grammar books for pleasure. And whenever I find an interesting site, I bookmark it.

Which brings me to Jack Lynch's Guide to Grammar and Style. And I'm going to peruse this lovely site in detail. But first, I have a critique to burn.

Catching Up is Hard To Do

Long, long ago, in a radio station far, far away, I worked as a copywriter.

Now, I loved writing commercials. But I hated taking a vacation. Because I knew when I got back, first thing Monday morning, 87 gajillion work orders would be sitting on my desk. That meant 87 gajillion commercials would have to be written, produced and scheduled. By the end of that Monday.

Flash forward to today. You'd think being a writer, working at home, AND having a laptop computer that one can tote everywhere, would sidestep that vacation pile-up on Monday. But you'd be wrong if you were Cathy C. Hall. Apparently, I cannot bring myself to work while I'm on vacation. So, I've spent the entire morning culling emails. (I caught up on the writing stuff over the weekend. Sorta.)

Mostly, I zipped through submission call outs, writing opps, and contests. All the newsletters that have been piling up in the old Inbox. To be honest, I zipped through them at record speed because I'm pretty particular. But halfway through my zipping, I started to wonder about contest entry fees.

You know I like my contests. But I'm very particular when it comes to entry fees. Or maybe just cheap. The point is, I rarely send anything off if a fee is over 12 bucks. But what I'm wondering is if I'm letting my cheapness stand in the way of opportunity. So, I'm asking you to weigh in on contest entry fees. What will you pay? And why?

And now, Monday's pile of writing is singing. "They say that catching u-u-u-p is hard to do." (That's what happens when you've worked in a radio station.)

A Little Punctuation Fun, Circa 1946

I'm here at the beach, on a little Mother's Day visit with Mrs. C (which makes that whole Cathy C. Hall thing make sense now, right?). Even on vacation, I'm thinking of y'all (which makes NO sense, but that's the way we C.'s roll).

Anyway, while looking through my mom's college yearbook (The Commodore, 1946), I came across this little gem:

Girls who eat spinach have legs like this: !!
Girls who ride horseback have legs like this: ()
Girls who get drunk have legs like this: )(
Vandy girls have legs like this: X

Isn't that a hoot and a half? Don't tell Mrs. C., but I'm taking this yearbook home with me (which makes total sense-you can't find funny like that anymore.)

Finding Something Friday: A Few Hot Spots to Visit

Here's the thing about the South: One minute, you're sitting out on the porch, as cool as you please. The next minute, it's so hot, the only way to beat the heat is to stuff your face into a watermelon. So, to celebrate 90 degree temps in my sunny backyard, I offer you a few writing hotspots you might want to visit. They won't exactly cool you off, but they're definitely cool.

Karen, one of my writing online buddies, sent me a note about her new blog, The Absinthe Road. She's planning to post a prompt every Monday to inspire your writing mind, body and soul. Sometimes a prompt is exactly what you need to get those writing muscles moving, and besides, Karen is quite the interesting person. So, why not check out her interesting blog?

And Donna, over at her Book Pub, is sponsoring a short story contest to motivate us during May, which just happens to be National Short Story Month (who knew?). You can write whatever you want, but there is a word limit and a no whining rule (I'm assuming she means no whining to her). There's a prize, too!

Wait a minute! I've just had the MOST splendiferous idea! Why not zip over to The Absinthe Road, get your writing groove on, then zip over to Donna's Book Pub and send in your prompt- inspired short story?

Off you go and no whining. (I just find cool stuff. The hot mess writing's up to you.)

Phot courtesy of stock.xchng

What Not to Do Wednesday on Doing Something

When those devastating photos from Nashville started popping up on the news, my little Southern heart started breaking. After all, Nashville's right up the road from Georgia, and I've spent a fair amount of time visiting there. Somebody should do something, I thought. I guess Amanda Morgan, Victoria Schwab and Myra McEntire, all Tennessee writers, had the same idea.

It's called Do The Write Thing for Nashville and if you have a Facebook page, you can follow these women and all the fabulous writerly prizes they'll be offering in an auction to raise funds for Nashville and Tennessee relief efforts. So if you've been stalling on the Facebook thing, grasshopper, here's a good and worthy cause to motivate you to join.

And speaking of good and worthy causes, every year in May, Brenda Novak gets hopping on her Online Auction to Benefit Diabetes Research. My big brother was diagnosed with diabetes about ten years ago, so I think about him when pondering prizes. Not that Big Brother cares one iota what wonderful writing goodies I bid on...or that Big Brother even knows I write, for that matter.
Um, I'm fairly certain Big Brother knows I live in the Atlanta area. But that is not the point here, grasshopper.

The point is that TONS of folks in the writing community have come together to raise funds for causes near and dear to me. And even if I'm not one of those scathingly brilliant writers who can offer my services, I can do something. I can bid on those critiques, or evaluations, or books offered by all those scathingly generous writers, editors, agents and publishers.

So, don't sit there like a grasshopper on a blog, wondering what to do. Every little bid helps!

May Day (and Writing Beginnings)

It's May!

It's May! The month of "Yes, you may!"

If you recognize those lyrics from Camelot, and can hear Julie Andrews singing "The Lusty Month of May," then we're probably a. pretty much the same age and b. soul mates.

But I'm bringing up that song for more than just a seeking out of similar-aged soul mates (though that's always a pleasure, too). The truth is, I played writing hooky on the first of the month-and I'm blaming it on May Day. How can a body get writing goals and business in order when celebrating the glories of God's green earth? Or the joys of His Mother, Mary?

(For Catholic girls back in the day, the month ushered in the May Crowning, when we'd gather bouquets of flowers or roses from our yards and file into church to lay our offerings before Mary. "Oh, Mary, we crown you with blossoms today...", another song I want to hum on May Day.)

So, now's it time to take out my calendar and list all my lovely writing goals. First, I'll fill in regular gigs on their due dates. Then, I'll take a look at a few markets or contests that I want to submit to this month, and I'll add them to my calendar. Finally, I'll pencil in time for work on my YA maunscript. I'll tack my calendar on the wall next to my computer so I can keep up with the month's objectives. It's all very organized and scathingly professional.

Or I might just hang out in my lounge chair, drinking cherry limeade and reading some cheesy paranormal thriller. Because, hey, it's May.

(Photo from stock.xchng)