Cathy C. Hall Writes

You know what’s fabulous about blog awards? You just get ’em.

You don’t have to write 750 more brilliant words than anyone else’s brilliant words. You don’t have to send in an entry fee or worry about a deadline or get an agent first! You don’t have to follow a prompt, or sign on as a follower or tweet or…well, anything.

You just wake up one day and someone sends you a little message saying, “You’ve won a blog award because I think you’re swell.”

Well, you and your blog are swell. Technically. So thanks to my buddy Gail who blogs over at Write from the Soul for sending along The Stylish Blogger Award. Not to brag, but I do rock a certain je ne sais quoi look here at the Hall of Fame.

As per the rules, 1. I’ve linked to the person who gave me the award. And 2. I shall pass along the award to a deserving blog or two. And of course, 3. I shall congratulate said deserving blogger. But 4., I must share seven things about myself. I suspect they must be true things.

1. I have a fear of bridges and roll down the windows when I must cross over one. So I suppose, really, I have a fear of a bridge collapsing while I’m on one and then being trapped in my car and drowning. Frankly, I have a fear just writing about my fear.

2. I will not eat asparagus because they smell funny.

3. I am an only girl (with three brothers). My mother is an only girl (with two brothers). My daughter is an only girl (with two brothers).

4. Contrary to my brothers’ opinion, I did not always “get whatever I wanted.” For instance,

5. I can’t play the piano. So there.

6. When I was 18, I backed up into someone’s mailbox so that the pole and the ground formed a right angled isosceles triangle. But I knew my dad would turn purple if he found out, so I drove home and prayed that the police wouldn’t come after me, thereby requiring me to ‘fess up. I escaped jail time and my father’s wrath, and I’m pretty sure those folks have replaced the mailbox by now.

7. Yeah, I love writing and words and grammar, but I’m kinda geeky about math, too. I mean, as long as it’s pretty easy like a right angled isosceles triangle.

And now, because I want to know seven things about Madeline and Paige, I’ll pass along this sweet award. Well, the seven things…but also, and mostly, because I think you’re swell.

Long before I ever read Stephen King’s quote, “Read a lot and write a lot,” I followed that advice.

One thing that I read a lot of is writing advice (What a coincidence!). And it just so happens that I came across a whole list of great quotes of writing advice (How serendipitous!). Truth be told, I’ve already posted about this fabulous list over at Finders & Keepers. But I found it so nice, I’m discussing it twice! So Thing One is this list from Online College of 101 Words of Wisdom from Famous Authors. Something tells me I should take another look-see at F. Scott Fitzgerald’s advice (“Cut out all those exclamation marks. An exclamation mark is like laughing at your own joke.”)

Yes, well, on to Thing Two. I got a heads up today from Jodi Webb who’s participating in a blog hop. (Notice I did NOT use an exclamation point. I wanted to, but as per the above advice, I restrained myself. Honestly, it feels as if something is lacking. Something like a big, fat exclamation point.)

If you’re looking for a chance to win a TON of books, this is the blog hop for you. Over 200 blogs are participating and giving away all sorts of prizes. So here’s your chance to follow Mr. King’s advice and read a lot, assuming you win books. You have till the 24th to join in the fun, so hop over now and start signing up. (!)

(I know you’re probably wondering about that fox squirrel. Because usually, I have a way of bringing a totally unrelated pic like that into a post and making a brilliantly witty remark by post’s end. But this whole exclamation point thing has me off my game. Blame it on Fitzgerald.)