1 | Cathy C. Hall Writes

Okay, now. You know it’s going to be writing, right? But such a lot of writing stuff you never imagined! So off we go! (See? I’ve just used TWO exclamation points in a row. That’s how excited I am.)

You know how you hear about something really great (five months ago) and plan to tell everyone about it but then you get carried away by your latest writing projects and maybe sitting outside on the lounge chair, reading a great book, and possibly watching entirely too many summer reality shows, and then you completely forget to mention it?

Um, yeah. So whilst talking to author and friendly mentor Karyn Henley at the Highlights Whole Novel Wokshop, she mentioned Holly Lisle’s workshops and writing books. (It must have made a big impression because I wrote “Holly Lisle” on a random page and underlined it twice.) And then the other day, the ~~pushy~~ helpful Amazon folks sent me an email espousing certain writing books and there was Holly Lisle’s plotting book for 99¢ (Kindle). So that sort of jarred my memory and I ordered it and then I went to her site and holy moly! TONS of helpful classes and books! Non-fiction, fiction, offered for whatever level of writer you are, and ridiculously reasonable. So there’s that.

And then I also forgot to remind you about the Chicken Soup From the Soul’s Married Life giveaway (from last week or so). You can read all about it at Get Your FREE Chicken Soup (For The Soul). And please post a comment there if you’d like to try to win a copy of this delightful book in the series. So there’s also that.

And finally, I forgot to mention (from yesterday) that I’d opined again about the arts and crafts festival, but this time I discussed What I Learned About Selling Books. It’s over at The Muffin so drop in there and get a few selling tips. (The lovely Becky P. mentioned some difficulty leaving a comment yesterday but I think that’s been fixed. Still, if you tried to leave a comment and couldn’t, please know how much I appreciate you!) So that’s that.

Whew. That was a lot of remembering to do this Thursday. So until the next catch-up Thursday, I’ll leave you with this: Happy writing! (See? I added an exclamation point, just for you.)

Every time I think I’m doing something swell (writerly speaking), I forget about the ripples. You know what I mean about the ripples? Like when you drop a pebble in the water and the ripples expand outward, affecting the waters further and further away?

So I’ve been researching agents and editors for the Rutgers conference (and I have found SO many wonderful sites/blogs packed with great info! I’ll share those soon!) and I came across a blog post from a writer who’d attended in the past and she mentioned business cards. And I thought, thank goodness, I have plenty of business cards. Because I have THREE different–no, FOUR different business cards.

And then one of those ripples banged into me. Self, I said, you better check your business cards since you’ve made some changes lately. And uh-oh. Most of the cards had the Hall of Fame blog on it. A few had my old website. Which means I’ve been blithely handing out business cards for the past…let’s see, 9 months, with outdated information.

Oy. I suppose I don’t need to tell you that I was pretty annoyed with myself, grasshopper. I should make a checklist of “What To Do When Changing Your Web Presence” rather than what I do do, which is changing one thing, then catching up with the ripples as they inevitably bang into me. Don’t do that, grasshopper. Make your checklist, and put “Check/change business cards” on the top of the list. Then you can do a happy dance (like me!) when the NEW BUSINESS CARDS arrive from Vistaprint! And P.S. I also ordered a sheet of sticky business card labels that I could slap on a manuscript, which I thought was scathingly brilliant, not to mention ripple-evading.

(If I’m being perfectly honest, I love designing business cards. But you probably had an inkling of that when you read about the four business cards, piled in my desk drawer.)