What Not to Do Wednesday | Cathy C. Hall Writes

I wish I had a nickel for every time the Beneficent Mr. Hall drove around, trying to find his way. I wouldn’t be a rich woman, but I could probably buy one of those GPS thingies. I’ve always wanted one of those GPS thingies, grasshopper. I should add that to my Christmas list.

The point is, we could save a lot of time and energy if one of us (and I think we know who) asked for help. Unfortunately, grasshopper, there was an incident yesterday when one of us (and I think you know who) should have asked for help, but instead fell into a big, old black hole of foolishness.

Here’s how it started: I wanted to put a little zing into my other blog (Finders & Keepers). So, I happened to notice one of those lovely widgets for Flickr. Wheee! I have a Flic kr account. I downloaded a couple of fun photos, followed the directions, but… the widget thing did not come up.

Hmmm. I tried again. And again. Grasshopper, I’m ashamed to say how long I spent trying to find the way to make the widget thingie work. Until the moment when I thought, I can ask for help. I clicked on the Support page and there it shone, brightly lit directions pulling me out of the black hole.

Run, don’t walk, to your Support page or Help page or Ask Forum, or whatever it’s called, grasshopper, if you run into a technical problem. You don’t have time to waste (especially when there’s Christmas Lists to be written).

I almost did it, grasshopper. I came this close (picture me pressing my thumb and pointer finger together, leaving just a smidgen of space) to skipping out on the AJC Decatur Book Festival Writer’s Conference this year.

And then I thought “Whaddaya, crazy or something? Here’s a bunch of talented writers, happy to share their words of wisdom, for FREE, and you’re sitting around whining to yourself about traffic.”

Yeah, that’s right, grasshopper. Not a fan of traffic. Or crowds. Both of which are bound to be a problem at the DBF. But I pulled on my big girl britches…and coerced one of the Junior Halls into going with me. Whatever. The point is, I emailed somebody to reserve a spot at the workshop I wanted to attend. Um, I didn’t actually get the workshop I wanted to attend. But I’m bound to get in some workshop. For FREE.

So, don’t let stuff like traffic or crowds keep you from taking advantage of wonderful writing opportunities in your area. Especially when those opportunities are FREE!