1 | Cathy C. Hall Writes

Okay. So it was Fun Friday and I had a fun post planned about…well, something fun, I’m sure. But then a fun friend facebooked me (Oh! Alliteration!) and the next thing you know, I was out having fun at the Stone Mountain Yellow Daisy Festival. (Instead of writing about fun.)

I took Cathy-on-a-Stick so I could take lots of pictures for you, but there were signs all over the place, telling me NOT to take pictures and you just cannot surreptitiously whip out a pic-on-a-stick and start clicking. And though I could’ve snapped a pic with the Chick Fil-A Cow, Cathy-on-a-Stick was having none of that. So I took her picture (at home) with the whirligig I purchased for The Beneficent Mr. Hall. (She still ended up with a farmyard animal, thank you very much.)

But lest you think there is nothing writerly in this post (besides the swell alliteration), I present to you Wizard of Oz Flying Monkey Earrings! And not to worry. I asked the fine fellow if I could put a pic of my earrings on the blog and he said, “Absolutely. And thank you for asking.” I so wish I could find the fine fellow’s card (Whee! Alliteration again!) but alas, I seemed to have misplaced it. Which brings to mind, “If I Only Had a Brain.”

If you haven’t read Frank L. Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, then here’s the place to read it online (and free). And if you want to see the flying monkeys in action, then you might enjoy this scene, synched to the Beatles “”Everybody’s Got Something to Hide (Except for Me and My Monkey’).

Now, isn’t this more fun than a barrel of (flying) monkeys? ‘Course, it is Monday, so you’d best get to work now.

So, it’s Random Acts of Publicity Week and as it happens, I’ve been meaning to give away a copy of Chicken Soup For the Soul’s Married Life! for the longest time.

Now, honestly, those Chicken Soup people sell those books by the fistfuls, so they probably don’t need my random act of publicity. But I like those Chicken Soup people, so they’re getting a little publicity, anyway.

In fact, I like them so much, I’ll give away TWO copies if I get over 15 commenters. So, why should you comment? Well, let’s see…

If you’ve ever thought you could write a great Chicken Soup kind of story, then reading essays from Chicken Soup books will give you an idea of how your story should be presented. Mostly, you’ll see that, even though you’re writing an essay, it’s important to have a beginning, a middle and an end, just like you would with any story. And I’m going to be really, really honest with you here: it’s about the story. I’ve read a lot of Chicken Soup stories–some of them are beautifully, almost lyrically, written. You can tell there’s a serious writer behind the story. And some of them are very simply written, as if your neighbor’s leaning over the fence, telling you what happened. But they all have a strong beginning, a middle that moves along, and an end that leaves the reader smiling and nodding (or sometimes a little choked up. But still nodding.) Chicken Soup essays say, “Here’s what happened to me.” And Chicken Soup readers say, “Yes, yes. I know exactly what she/he’s talking about. I’ve been there, too.”

Of course, every story strives to find a universal theme so that the reader feels a connection. It’s just that with Chicken Soup, you only have to read about 700 to 800 words to get there. So you get a book with 100 moments of happiness.

Which brings me to the other reason why you may want to comment: Chicken Soup for the Soul’s Married Life is a bunch of stories about fun, family and wedded bliss. I’m not sure if “bliss” and “fun” and “family” really belong together, but maybe that’s just the Hall crowd. I’m sure you’ll find all kinds of stories that will make you laugh out loud and say, “Yes, yes. I know exactly what he/she’s talking about. I’ve been there, too.”

And really, who doesn’t want to laugh out loud at the foibles of the Beneficent Mr. Hall and his lovely, not to mention hilarious wife, me?

So leave a comment. Share a little publicity love and tell me something about a Chicken Soup for the Soul book. And remember, the more comments, the more books I’m giving away. I don’t even know when I’m drawing the name(s)…perhaps I’ll just keep it going all month long. Or at least until I find where I put all my Chicken Soup for the Soul’s Married Life! books.