Contest | Cathy C. Hall Writes

That’s not a very catchy post title, but it does pretty much sum up the day’s catch.

If you’d like to read October’s column in Modern Senior Living, check out page 13 for “My Not-So-Smart Phone.” (I could probably write a book about phones at the Hall house. One time, I walked into Juniorest Hall’s room and found this mangled mess of wires and such on his bed. Just before I threw it out, he yelled, “Wait! That’s my phone!” Which he was actually still using. It was the phone I’d purchased 24 hours after I’d bought his first phone–but that’s another story.)

As you may remember, October is National Book Month, and I thought I’d update you on what I’m reading now: Bella at Midnight by Diane Stanley (a middle grade novel with fairy tale overtones) and Bodies of the Dead And Other Great American Ghost Stories (Did you know Edith Wharton wrote a ghost story? Neither did I, but there she is with Ambrose Bierce, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Willa Cather, and Harriet Prescott Spofford. I don’t know Harriet Prescott Spofford from Adam’s house cat, but how many times do you come across a name with that many double consonants? When I finish this scary book, I’m giving it away in the All Hallow’s Read Giveaway. Don’t forget to mention BOOk in a comment if you want your name in the cauldron.)

Janet Reid (yes, the literary agent, again) is having a contest. You have till tomorrow (at noon) to write a 100 word themed Halloween story with the words she’s posted. You can win a critique from Barbara Poelle, and that’s pretty awesome for a micro-fiction story. (You get bonus points if you work in the word “insalubrious”. And yes, I know that you know what insalubrious means, but I thought I’d give a quick definition for all those folks who may have taken a siesta during 10th grade Vocab drills: insalubrious=not conducive to health, unwholesome.)

Finally, just a quick mention of the writing tips you can find over at Finders & Keepers this week. I mentioned that I attended an SCBWI conference and I wrote a “what I learned from whom I saw” post. It’s packed with stuff you can use, whether you’re a children’s writer or not. (Seriously. It’s kind of a long post. But no one will know if you skim it.)

And now, as my insalubrious tale won’t write itself, I have a story to find on this fine Friday. I’m pretty sure it’s rattling around in my head, somewhere.

I was late getting to bed last night because I was zipping around Twitter, reading about zombies and a contest, and spreading the news about such. I related that fact to the Beneficent Mr. Hall and he said, “I’m going to twit.”

Whereupon I felt compelled to correct him (so that others would not consider him a twit).

“It’s tweet,” I said.

“I thought it was called Twitter,” he said.

“It is,” I said, “But it’s tweet.”

“That makes no sense at all. It should be twit. I’ll twit to you.”

I could see this conversation getting caught in one of those annoying loops so I moved on.

“What’s your username going to be? You have to sign up and get a name if you’re going to tweet.”

“I have a name,” he said. “It’s Boogerface McGee 8.”

“Why the 8?”

“Because there were already seven Boogerface McGees.”

I suppose if you ask a stupid question…anyway, it occurred to me that old Boogerface McGee 8 was right. He’ll be twitting.

Now, the contest I promised you. Wanna win a Kindle? The lovely founders of Writer Unboxed are kicking off their new site, Reader Unboxed, with a lovely and splendiferous contest where you can win a Kindle and a gift card. That’s pretty awesome, huh? Reader Unboxed looks to be pretty awesome, too. So zip over there and give both a look-see.

You should probably know that I’ve already signed up and I’m feeling pretty lucky. Plus, I’m getting Boogerface McGee 8 to sign up, too, doubling my chance to win. Of course, he’ll have to figure out that whole twitting thing first. (But fingers crossed that he’s smarter than he…sounds.)

Oops! Forgot to mention my book giveaway! ANY comment this month, on any post, with the word BOOk in it will count in my All Hallow’s Read giveaway. On October 31st, I’ll give out a couple spooky books from my personal stash of creepy. And seriously? I found some pretty creepy stuff. Like Ann Rice’s Servant of the Bones. *Shudders while typing.*