Highlights Foundation | Cathy C. Hall Writes

So I’m super ridiculously excited about the good: This weekend, I’m going to the…HIGHLIGHTS WHOLE NOVEL WORKSHOP!!!!

But the bad is, it’s in Pennsylvania. Why does it have to be Pennsylvania? (Nothing personal against Pennsylvania. It’s just so…oh, what’s the word? STINKIN’ FAR FROM GEORGIA–which yes, is way more than one word. But fear will make one lose the ability to count.)

But wait! What’s really GOOD is that I’ll be whipping that novel of mine into shape with the help of an amazing editor (who happens to be Martha Mihalick from Greenwillow who just happens to have the EXACT SAME WordPress template as Cathy C. Hall. I mean, how weird is that?). And, there will also be all kinds of other extremely talented writers and such helping me as well. Wheeee!

And what could possibly be bad about that, you ask? Well, I have to get on a PLANE because all of these people are in freakin’ PENNSYLVANIA!!!!!!

I really, really do not like to fly. Really. Especially without the Beneficent Mr. Hall there to say, “Cathy! You’re being crazy. Now calm DOWN before they kick us all off the plane.”

But I know that once I get there it will be all super fantastically, awesomely GOOD!!!!! Unless I’m so fearfully bad that the pilot tries to kick me off the plane. And that, my friends, could get epically ugly.

(See you in a week! )

P.S. Is it just me or is The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly one of the all-time best spaghetti westerns that coincidentally has the most awesome title ever to work into a blog post? And aren’t you hearing that opening music now?

With apologies to Neil Sedaka. (On the other hand, I’ll never get this song out of my head now. So we’re kind of even.)

“They say that catching up is hard to do…

Now I know, I know that it’s true.

Don’t say shut up and begin–

Instead of catching up I wish that I was all caught up again.”

So, I’ve been sort of missing for the last week. I applied to the Highlights Foundation Whole Novel Workshop and got accepted (Wheee!) And they offered me a scholarship, too. (Double wheee!) But then I kind of had to say I’d go (Fly on a plane all the way to Pennsylvania–eeeeek!). Plus I had to send my novel to my reader (Uh-oh.)

See, I had to make a few small changes in that novel before I could send it off to a Big, Important Editor Person. Changes in, oh, I don’t know…the goals and stakes.

Just for the record, I do not recommend making goals and stakes changes on a 60,000 word novel in 7 days. It’s doable, but only if you do the following:

1. Skim your emails, reading ONLY those that require immediate attention (roughly translated to “money is involved”.)

2. Dash through Facebook, skip Twitter, and ignore blogs (By the way, happy belated birthdays, y’all!)

3. Leave loved ones to fend for themselves (But do not be surprised if a. a Junior loved one shows up with a tattoo and/or fourth ear piercing because you said “uh huh” while you were typing and “talking” on the phone or b. you have gained 6 pounds because your wonderful spouse offered to take care of the cooking. And by cooking, I mean “picking up tacos and/or pizza” every day. P.S. You haven’t noticed you’ve been eating tacos and/or pizza every day.)

Now, I have a ton of catching up to do…emails to attend to, blogs to read, friends to (virtually) see, and all that other writing and reading that’s been waiting for me. Not to mention the matter of six extra pounds. But still…

“I beg of you, don’t say goodbye!

Let me give this whole thing one more try.

Come on, y’all, I’ll start anew…

But catching up is hard to do.”