Anthology | Cathy C. Hall Writes

Normally I’d wax poetic about the snow we had in Georgia because that’s what Southerners do. But I’ve got too much writer-y stuff to catch up on, and too many interesting Things to Do for you.

Thanks to speaker Shelli Wells’ tips at the Springmingle conference, I’ve got a few tweaking tasks, like my website and my kiddie lit blog. If there’s one thing that everybody harped on all conference long, it was marketing yourself. You can check out Shelli’s Market My Words and get a few of those tips for yourself. And read all about her “Comment Your Butt Off” Contest and how you can win a free website building consult from Shelli.

If you weren’t the lucky winner in my Writer Mama Giveaway, you should scamper over to Christina’s Writer Mama blog and find out where she’s giving away a copy of her book today. Every day in March (Yes, every day) she’s giving her book away on a different blog. Seriously, Christina Katz is a marketing machine.

And, finally, maybe you’re like me and thinking about doing some actual, er, writing. I’ve got to get to work on my “what I learned from my dog and cat” stories for those Chicken Soup books (Stories due March 31st). It’s going to take some serious thinking to come up with anything I learned from Sally the crazy dog. I mean, let’s be honest. I already knew how to be crazy.

Okay, maybe I’ve got time for one snow picture. But no waxing poetic.

I’ve got to get my little old self to the Springmingle Conference in Atlanta this evening, but I wanted to leave you something before I go. Something Southern, sort of like Southern Breeze, which is the SCBWI chapter sponsoring Springmingle. (Am I the only one that thinks Springmingle is a little, I don’t know, rushing the season, for a conference in February???)

So, here’s a call for submissions from “Sweet Tea and Afternoon Tales,” which is sponsored by the Gulf Coast Writers Association. And according to their info sheet, they’re “eager to include voices from many southern states.”

And that could mean little old me, from Georgia. Or you, if you’re from Mississippi, Alabama, Caroline-anywhere below the Mason Dixon Line (okay, I just flashed back to eighth grade cheerleading and one of my favorite cheers. Now, I’m flashing back to how I didn’t make the squad. A perfectly good flashback ruined.)

Anyway, the GCWA will accept most genres, except the usual genres relegated to the Island Of Misfit Fiction (erotica, graphic violence, etc.). BUT, stories must be set in the South and capture a Southern tone (how convenient for little old me!) AND, they’ll consider previously published stories. There’s no entry fee, but you’ve got to work fast! Deadline is March 15, 2009!

You can get all the little old details here. And now, I’m gone like the wind. (Um, I couldn’t help that one. It’s better than another cheer, though, right?)