No, I’m not hearing voices…yet. But I do enjoy reading the different voices over at New Christian Voices. And I’m not just saying that ’cause I found my latest, “The Really Important Things,” playing on the Relationship Channel. If you get a kick out of laughing at the beneficent Mr. Hall’s antics, you’ll want to check it out here. Did I say laughing at? I meant with. Really.

I’m not sure that Mr. Hall’s antics can cheer me up when it comes to what I found at the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Come August, the AJC will no longer provide the sections that cover other parts of metro Atlanta. Sadly, one of those sections happens to be in my corner of the metro Atlanta world. And I’m not just saying that ’cause that’s where you could find Cathy C. Hall’s occasional opinions. I love reading the paper. I love sitting at the kitchen table, first thing in the morning, with a hot cup of tea and my newspaper spread out in front of me. Yes, I know I’ll still have my paper. But I won’t have my special section. And honestly, what with all the cutbacks and the Internet taking over the world, I can’t help worrying that my paper’s days are numbered. I mean, I love the Internet as much as the next guy. But it’s just not the same, sitting at the kitchen table with a laptop in front of me. And before you know it, my grandkids will be dragging me to Show and Tell and asking, “Gee, Grandma Cathy, did you really read an actual newspaper??? And by the way, how do you manage to look so gosh-darn young, Grandma Cathy???”

Anyway, I’m in a bit of a funk. But if I could win the Pocket’s Fiction Writing Contest, that might cheer me up tout de suite! I’ve written my story; I just have to submit it. If you’re interested, you’d better start writing. Submissions won’t be accepted after August 15, 2008. Or I should say, submissions postmarked after August 15. That’s right, folks. You have to send your story the old-fashioned way. No emails allowed.

Ironic, huh?