1 | Cathy C. Hall Writes

So like I said, it’s been busy with all kinds of party-making ’round here. Just the other day, I zipped down to the neighbor’s house to celebrate their daughter’s high school graduation, and whilst stuffing my face with a delicious petit four (Fun fact for the day: petit four is a French word that means “small oven.”), I had a little chat with the neighbor’s dad.

The neighbor’s dad, it turns out, reads this blog faithfully. Which may not seem exactly blog-worthy, but here’s the thing. The neighbor’s dad is not a writer. Has never been a writer, and as far as I know, doesn’t want to ever become a writer. (He’s a retired physician and accomplished artist, actually.) Naturally, I was surprised that he would read a blog on, well…basically, writing.

It was at this point in our little conversation that he admitted to skipping a lot of the writing stuff. Fair enough. But he likes the other parts.

Um…I’m not sure what other parts he likes. The artfully-arranged pictures? My insouciant turn of a phrase? The witty ambiance of the blog?

Anyway, I thought, it being Fun Friday, I’d find some funny art. Because come on, guys. The man’s been reading this blog forever.

And now, without further ado, I present 13 Weird Paintings, courtesy of CollegeHumor. This one’s for you, Warren!

(The rest of y’all choose one of those weird paintings as a writing prompt. Except for the alien, chimp and baby pic. I mean, even the Beneficent Mr. Hall could come up with 500 words for that.)

May is a busy month, isn’t it? End-of-school chaos, graduations (That’s Youngest Junior Hall, graduating college!), Mother’s Day, Memorial Day…whew! Time for a nice summer break.

And really, I am the Queen of Summer Breaks. But I also know that too long of a break from writing and my brain gets mushy. I can’t remember what my manuscript was all about, and my creative idea juices sort of dwindle to a trickle. So I work–but I break up my routine.

Which brings me to the topic I discussed over at the Muffin today: taking writing classes. Sometimes, a class is just what a writer needs to get excited, to get new ideas, to break old habits, to mix up the routine. And goodness, there are an awful lot of writing classes!

I came across this Write Now! Mastermind class the other day and had to read the details twice. Free? Really? That’s a pretty sweet deal. But honestly, there are sweet deals like that going on every day in the writing world. And maybe the summer is the perfect time to rev up your writing life with a fun class.

So do something for yourself this summer. I know it sounds crazy, but you’ll feel great, putting your brain to work during the break!