September | 2014 | Cathy C. Hall Writes

Today, I give you the theme song from Green Acres, the fish-out-of-water show in the 60’s that flipped the concept of The Beverly Hillbillies. (Want to know how to do the fish-out-water plot? Watch a couple episodes of either program and you’re golden.)

One of the recurring characters in Green Acres was Ralph, a handywoman who was always working on something around the old homestead. Eddie Albert was always stepping on a hammer or walking into a ladder or fuming about the cost of the latest repair. BUT NO REPAIR WAS EVER, EVER FINISHED.

For six weeks, a painter has been working hard here at the old Hall homestead, putting in two or three hours a day, a couple times a week. For six weeks, he has popped up outside my window, literally five inches from my face, while I try to concentrate on producing scathingly brilliant paragraphs. For six weeks, Libs has barked her fool head off for a goodly potion of the time he has spent here. In six weeks, he has found seven other things wrong with my house and needed to talk to me–in my pajamas–at least 27 times. In six weeks, he has sent me about a dozen new estimates for the work.

Yesterday, I finally paid my Ralph for the job.

But he’ll be back in a month to paint that board (the one around the garage that isn’t quite “cured” yet). All I got to do, says he, is give him a call and he’ll be here, bright and early (to see me in my fall pajamas).

Because, said my painter, when he gets a job, he likes to finish it.

One of the lovely perks of social media and blogging is getting to know lots and lots of writers that I would never meet in person. And one of the joys of meeting other writers is sharing the joy of publication, whether it be a book or a magazine article, a poem or a short story. Most of the time, I blah-blah-blah about my own publications because–well, let’s face it, y’all, the name of the blog is Cathy C. Hall. But today, today is different.

Today is all about you and your lovely publications. Because geez, Louise, y’all. YOU have been busy writing good stuff!

And when I say you, I mean Becky Lewellen Povich, whose memoir, From Pigtails to Chin Hairs, is like a chat at the kitchen table over coffee. Her book is a collection of vignettes, a story told through snapshots of another time and the people and places along the journey of her life. You can’t read this book and not see and hear Becky on every page…or rather, the Becky that she’d become.

Or the you that’s Beth Cato whose The Clockwork Dagger kept me up reading til 1:30 in the morning! It’s a steampunk fantasy adventure that’s fun and daring and textured and true, and if you haven’t hopped on to one of her blog tours to win this book, you’re missing something special. I’ve loved Beth’s short stories forever–and I’ve been drooling over her recipes (at Bready or Not) forever, too–but this novel might top them all.

And you, too, Julie Hedlund, whose just released picture book, My Love For You Is The Sun, is like a bedtime lullaby. Her rhyming text, combined with the clay art illustrations of Susan Eaddy, will rock little ones to sleep, night after night after night. Julie is the founder of 12 x 12, a writing challenge that’s a must for anyone serious about picture books. And you can see in My Love For You Is The Sun a culmination of all that she’s learned–and so generously shared with the kidlit writing community.

And last, but certainly not least, you, Krysten Lindsay Hager whose True Colors just landed in my Kindle reader, thanks to those lovely Lit Ladies and their giveaway! I’ve been laughing at Krysten’s take on…well, just about everything for years and now she has a book? The tagline alone is brilliant: “Landry never imagined acceptance could leave her feeling so rejected.” How’s that for a great hook?

I love when writer friends succeed on that road to publication, don’t you? And if you’re ever in Georgia–and by you, I mean Becky, Beth, Julie, and Krysten–come say hello. And I’d really love it if you signed your books!