It was a semi-exciting day here on the Cathy C. Hall Road to Publication. “Semi-” because nothing’s actually been published. But exciting because it’s on the Road to Publication, sooner or later.

Bright and early this morning, I interviewed Diana DeGarmo. Diana was the runner-up to Fantasia on the third season of American Idol. Just for the record, I was not a big Fantasia fan. On the other hand, Diana was a charming, hometown girl. And, it turns out, she’s just as hometown charming as ever.

So when I called her to get some info for Our Town Magazine’s feature story, she was quite obliging. She was bubbling over with the scoop on Gone Country, a new show on CMT that will have seven artists competing for a record contract produced by John Rich, the country super-star big-wig. Now, calm down. I don’t have any top-secret details (like who’ll be releasing that coveted single) but c’mon, Diana can sing country. And she’s competing against let’s see, Dee Snider of Twisted Sister fame…Maureen McCormack of Marcia, Marcia, Marcia fame…Julio Iglesias Jr. of Dad-was-a-hot-Latin-singer fame…Bobby Brown of rap/Whitney Houston fame…how many is that? Oh yeah, and Carnie Wilson of Brian Wilson fame.

All terrific artists. Sort of. But my money’s on Diana. And not just ’cause she was so gosh darn cute and polite.

But that’s not all. I also received in the mail my first assignment for the Institute of Children’s Literature Writing for Children and Teenagers course. Wow. That’s a mouthful, huh? This is the year for me and my children’s writing to sink or swim. So I decided to plunge in, pay the money and take the class. Something tells me you’ll be hearing more about this experience as the year and assignments go along.

But not now. I’ve got a feature article to re-read and an assignment to start. That Road to Publication ain’t gonna write itself, you know.