Cathy C. Hall Writes

You know how your stories are sort of like children? You’re proud of them when they go out in the world and do well. And you love each and every one of them, exactly the same.

Except sometimes, you like one a little better than the other. She makes you laugh, or she makes you smile, or maybe she makes you sigh. But mostly, there’s just something there, close to your heart, that makes you like her just a teensy bit more than the others. Not forever, of course. You know that tomorrow, your heart will be pulled in another direction.

That’s just the way it is, with stories and kids. And that’s the way it is with my story, “The Funny Thing in The Bathroom at Casa Del Rio.” You can read it in A Shaker of Margaritas: Hot Flash Mommas. This anthology has just come out of Mozark Press, and it’s brimming with wonderful stories about the forty or older woman and her search for happiness, or love, passion, or perhaps revenge.

I’m not sure what each character is searching for because I haven’t had time to read each and every story. But I’ve enjoyed the ones I’ve read so far. And I’m so glad that this story of mine found a home there. There’s a little piece of me in that forty-something woman who bumps into a long-ago lover in the Senoritas.

Makes me feel twenty-something again when I read it. And for just a few minutes, that’s a fine thing. Might make a fine gift for the woman of a certain age you know. That’s all I’m saying.

And that I really love “The Funny Thing in the Bathroom at Casa Del Rio.” I’ll keep smiling… until the next special story grabs my heart.

Since November 1st, I’ve found more than a few articles out there bashing National Novel Writing Month. Participants are wasting their time, writing drivel. Would-be novelists don’t want to do the hard revision work-they just want to send out NaNoWriMo-produced 50,000 words to over-worked agents and editors. A non-profit industry has sprung up from the Nano foolishness. Etc. Etc. Etc. And now I feel compelled to say a few words about that…

I’m not sure why it matters to some folks how I, or any NaNoWriMo participant, chooses to spend writing time. Maybe we’d be writing drivel whether we’re participating in a novel-writing incentive program or not. Honestly, quite a bit of what ends up on my pages starts out as drivel.

Which leads me to my second point. For me, the hard work of writing does begin with revision. But I can’t revise if I don’t have words on the page. Banging out a skeleton of a novel is a good starting point. On the other hand, some folks just want to write. Maybe they’ve got an idea in their head that needs a little fresh air. Maybe they just like a challenge. Maybe they’re writing “Mary had a little lamb” over and over and over again. SO WHAT? We live in the land of the free and the home of the brave writers, willing to risk finger cramps and butt flattening to bang out 50,000 words. I don’t care what they do with their words. That’s their business. I am kinda sorry for agents and editors who may be inundated later with very bad NaNoWriMo prose. But that’s what delete buttons are for, right?

And finally, I cannot understand how anyone could complain about an industry, non-profit or otherwise, that supports writing. Last night, when checking out the NaNoWriMo forums, I noticed that lots of the writers in my region were young. I mean, high school and college-aged young. And they’re challenging themselves to write 50,000 words? That’s AMAZING. When I was college-aged, I challenged myself, too. But um, those contests had nothing to do with words.

So, let the hackers, the would-be-novelists, and the high-school dreamers write their 50,000 (or 5,675 or 37,587) words in peace. And that, as Forrest Gump would say, is “all I have to say about that.”