Fame and Fortune | Cathy C. Hall Writes

It was a semi-exciting day here on the Cathy C. Hall Road to Publication. “Semi-” because nothing’s actually been published. But exciting because it’s on the Road to Publication, sooner or later.

Bright and early this morning, I interviewed Diana DeGarmo. Diana was the runner-up to Fantasia on the third season of American Idol. Just for the record, I was not a big Fantasia fan. On the other hand, Diana was a charming, hometown girl. And, it turns out, she’s just as hometown charming as ever.

So when I called her to get some info for Our Town Magazine’s feature story, she was quite obliging. She was bubbling over with the scoop on Gone Country, a new show on CMT that will have seven artists competing for a record contract produced by John Rich, the country super-star big-wig. Now, calm down. I don’t have any top-secret details (like who’ll be releasing that coveted single) but c’mon, Diana can sing country. And she’s competing against let’s see, Dee Snider of Twisted Sister fame…Maureen McCormack of Marcia, Marcia, Marcia fame…Julio Iglesias Jr. of Dad-was-a-hot-Latin-singer fame…Bobby Brown of rap/Whitney Houston fame…how many is that? Oh yeah, and Carnie Wilson of Brian Wilson fame.

All terrific artists. Sort of. But my money’s on Diana. And not just ’cause she was so gosh darn cute and polite.

But that’s not all. I also received in the mail my first assignment for the Institute of Children’s Literature Writing for Children and Teenagers course. Wow. That’s a mouthful, huh? This is the year for me and my children’s writing to sink or swim. So I decided to plunge in, pay the money and take the class. Something tells me you’ll be hearing more about this experience as the year and assignments go along.

But not now. I’ve got a feature article to re-read and an assignment to start. That Road to Publication ain’t gonna write itself, you know.

In August, when I received the e-mail explaining how I could be compensated for interviews or book signings (see Cup of Comfort for Dog Lovers), I sorta, kinda put that e-mail in some file and figured I’d get back to it later. Because, deep down, I have this sorta, kinda lazy streak when it comes to promoting myself.

But then I mentioned the idea of an interview to my friends at Our Town Magazine and they were happy to oblige. They’d get right on that. Except that one thing led to another…the publicist changed jobs, so I’d have to get in touch with the new publicist. Who sent the wrong Cup of Comfort book in the press kit to Our Town. And then I lost the address of the Our Town editor. I think you get the picture. For a sorta, kinda lazy person like me, this was turning into a major ordeal.

It would have been easier, at this point, to forget about the interview; I mean, the Fame or Fortune was not going to rock my world. But that would have been classic Cathy C. Hall “What Not To Do” behavior. So I went back to work on it, did the interview, sent in the paperwork, and waited.

Just the other day, I received a check. Compensation for my interview that appeared in Our Town Magazine in November. Since I’d completely forgotten about the whole episode (which is also classic Cathy C. Hall behavior) I danced around the kitchen, singing “Do You See What I See?” Cup of Comfort for Dog Lovers version.