The Muffin | Cathy C. Hall Writes

512px-Sir_Edward_John_Poynter_-_The_visit_of_the_Queen_of_Sheba_to_King_Solomon_-_Google_Art_Project This morning, I heard the story of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon and I probably should have been paying attention to the point of this Old Testament story, but all I could think about was how long it had been since I’d heard the expression “Queen of Sheba.”

When I was a kid, if someone were putting on airs, my mother might say, “She walked in like she was the Queen of Sheba.” And if I were putting on airs, she’d address me as “Madame Queen.” As in, “Oh, Madame Queen wants steak.”

I’m not sure where Madame Queen came from, but my mother used that expression till she died. Not so for “the Queen of Sheba”. That’s an expression that’s just sort of died out, though I suspect that if I said, “Who are you? The Queen of Sheba?” the Junior Halls would know exactly what I meant (even if they weren’t sure from whence the expression had come).

Anyway, that led me to thinking about Paul Harvey and my Muffin post today: The Rest of the (Revamp) Story.

Oh my word, I loved Paul Harvey and his Rest of the Story; the radio station where I worked carried the program around 5 or 5:30 but the feed came through at 3:00 and I–or my co-worker, George–had to be there to tape it. So we’d take a little afternoon break to listen as the feed came down, grab a Coke and have a smoke (I haven’t smoked in decades but I sometimes still smell a cigarette and think of old Paul Harvey and George). Invariably, when Paul would give the twist, we’d look at each other like, “WHAT?” We rarely saw the twist coming and that shock, that surprise, was so much fun.

I suspect old Paul (or his son, who wrote that program) influence my writing quite a bit; there is nothing I like better than a good, unexpected twist to a story. Which is not to say that my Muffin post today is completely unexpected; I’ve talked about all my thinking already so you won’t really get a true “Rest of the Story.” But it makes me smile, using that program format. It makes me a little sad, too, to think Rest of the Story is gone and expressions are dying out as well.

Though if you do read myMuffin post, I go on a bit in a somewhat la-ti-da manner and I wouldn’t blame you one bit if you thought, “Who does Cathy think she is? The Queen of Sheba?”

Image from Art Gallery of New South Wales [Public domain]

So it’s been a month of doing.

storystorm2020participant It started with me doing Tara Lazar’s Storystorm, which basically led to me stockpiling bunches of ideas. But just so we’re clear, it wasn’t the reading of the blog posts every day, though they were swell and often prompted me. It was doing the thinking every day.

I mean, when was the last time that you just sat around, thinking? Not in the shower or soaking in the bath, though those are both Jim Dandy thinking spots. Except really, you’re doing something else while you’re thinking. I’m talking about just stopping for five or ten minutes to sit and think. To stare into space and let your mind wander as you think about…well, whatever you need to think about (besides me ending a sentence with a preposition). For me, it was story ideas.

You know what? It’s very hard to allow yourself time to think. But something interesting happened this year: In the beginning of the month, when I’d sit there, thinking, it would take a while for a thought to come to me. Yeah, yeah, I know, but seriously, 87 different things would pop into my mind. Mostly domestic-y things I needed to do. Or a Junior Hall Conundrum. Or how Libs the Tiny Terror could sleep upside down? So I had to practice just thinking. How crazy is that?

Anyway, now when I start my thinking, ideas explode in my mind! I’m not saying they’re good ideas or that anything will come from them or that they’re even more than a word or two. But really, that’s not the point. I’m just exercising my thinking skill. So if you want to jump start your thinking skill set, you can still go over to Tara’s Storystorm and read all the posts; you won’t be eligible to win any prizes but you’re still going to be a winner.

And what else this month? Because thinking was just the tip of the iceberg, as they say, and one thing led to another and another and…well, you can read for yourself in“It Started with a Link”over at the Muffin. (And then you can let me know what you think about the oh-so-subtle but new changes here at Cathy C. Hall.)

Hmmm…I guess that’s enough for now but honestly, y’all, I can’t wait to see what I do next.