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Cathy C. Hallhttps://cathychall.wordpress.com/I write, write, write. Then I rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. THEN I submit all those polished-up words out into the world and sell 'em. It's a plan that's worked pretty well.

Finding Something Friday Rushing Around

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I’ve got to get my little old self to the Springmingle Conference in Atlanta this evening, but I wanted to leave you something before I go. Something Southern, sort of like Southern Breeze, which is the SCBWI chapter sponsoring Springmingle. (Am I the only one that thinks Springmingle is a little, I don’t know, rushing the season, for a conference in February???)

So, here’s a call for submissions from “Sweet Tea and Afternoon Tales,” which is sponsored by the Gulf Coast Writers Association. And according to their info sheet, they’re “eager to include voices from many southern states.”

And that could mean little old me, from Georgia. Or you, if you’re from Mississippi, Alabama, Caroline-anywhere below the Mason Dixon Line (okay, I just flashed back to eighth grade cheerleading and one of my favorite cheers. Now, I’m flashing back to how I didn’t make the squad. A perfectly good flashback ruined.)

Anyway, the GCWA will accept most genres, except the usual genres relegated to the Island Of Misfit Fiction (erotica, graphic violence, etc.). BUT, stories must be set in the South and capture a Southern tone (how convenient for little old me!) AND, they’ll consider previously published stories. There’s no entry fee, but you’ve got to work fast! Deadline is March 15, 2009!

You can get all the little old details here. And now, I’m gone like the wind. (Um, I couldn’t help that one. It’s better than another cheer, though, right?)

What Not To Do Wednesday on Meeting Writers

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I do not, as a rule, use other people as examples of “What Not To Do.” But this particular example was so blatant, I couldn’t pass it up. Besides, it happened to the beneficent Mr. Hall, and he really doesn’t count as “other people.”

On this week’s business trip to Florida (and may I just say here that I find it odd that Mr. Hall’s business trips are invariably in Florida when the weather in Georgia is chillsville. As I also find it odd that Mr. Hall’s business trips are in Chicago when the Cubs are playing…), the beneficent Mr. Hall was boarding the plane when oops! He dropped a novel (The Book of the Dead, if you must know).

The gentleman behind Mr. Hall exclaimed, “Oh, I know that writer! It’s a great book!” I can’t report what Mr. Hall replied, but I’m guessing something along the lines of “Mmmph.” Next, the kindly gentleman said, “I’m a writer.” At which point, Mr. Hall did not say, “Oh, my wife’s a writer, too.” Or, “Really? What’s your name? What have you written?” In point of fact, Mr. Hall was apparently so taken with the fact that another person in the universe was a writer, that he said nothing. Or, maybe it was “Mmmph.”

Now, grasshopper, if you should ever have the opportunity to meet a writer, particularly a writer who points out that he knows the writer of a fine book, do not say, “Mmmph.” Introduce yourself, have a little chat, schmooze a bit. Possibly mention your wife who is a writer.

Particularly if the writer gentleman walks all the way up to First Class and leaves the “other people” (like the beneficent Mr. Hall) way back in the plane with their paperback novels and bags of peanuts.