Author Archives

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.

Waiter! There’s a Fly

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At the “Out with the Old, In with the New” Our Town Magazine luncheon, I got a gift. Just in time for Christmas.

Actually, I received a nice card, of which a nice gift was
enclosed. But that’s not the gift I oohed and ahhed over. Janet Lennox gave me another gift: a book called Zanzibar Zoop, The Soup Swimming Fly.

Janet’s husband, Jeff (don’t you love married folks who have match-y names like Janet and Jeff?) wrote this charming children’s tale about a fly in the split pea soup and how this little bug helped saved the day.

Jeff is a physician by day and a writer by, well, other times of the day. Besides his children’s book, he also writes a column for Our Town Magazine. Maybe Janet talked him into that role, since she was one of the magazine’s publishers.

Now Our Town is changing hands; we have a new publisher, Delfy Flores and his lovely wife, Norma (admit it, you thought of Marilyn Monroe, didn’t you?). So I guess I’ll be working for them, now.

But I’ll always be thankful for friends like Janet. Without the gift of Our Town Magazine, I may never have found my writing niche. Or had the chance to read Zanzibar Zoop.

Gifts, Christmas, friends. I’m feeling pretty Fortune-ate.

Finding Something Fridays: Buh-Bye Cowardly Lion

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Bright and early this morning, I found courage.

I asked about compensation for my work…to be specific, I questioned whether I might receive a tiny Fortune on a column that I’ve been writing “for the love.” I do love writing that column. But it was time for me to make a statement. Am I a writer who’s just writing for the fun of it? Or am I writer in the business of writing?

I swallowed hard and named a price. And the publisher said, “Yes, yes, of course.” It was that easy.

So, ask for what you deserve. All it takes is a little courage to become the Queen of the Jungle.