** The Motivational Lou **

Earlier today I wrote briefly about my publisher, Lou. (that's short for Louella!) I decided Lou deserved a little more than just a sentence or two.

Lou is such a neat person. She is a wonderful writer, an awesome, hard-working publisher, a cheer-leader for her writer friends, an excellent editor, and she always offers intelligent and valuable critiques. Wow! No wonder I like her! So, when she said she'd like to publish my memoir, you better believe I jumped at the opportunity.

Among all the hundreds of tasks Lou performs every day, she's also been diligently working on the new website for her company: High Hill Press. Please jump on over there and check it out. There are writing contests to enter, requests for essays, etc.  Also, click on the link that says "Back Porch Book Chat". You can read a beautiful essay Lou wrote a few years ago about her grandparents and how the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, came into her life. The title of her story is: On the Bank of the Illinois.

One more reason to check out High Hill Press website. There just happens to be a little highlight section, right at the top of the home page....and you might see a name you recognize!!...Plus another one....Donna, of Donna's Book Pub!

I can't thank Lou enough for all her enthusiasm!!

“A goal is a dream with a deadline.” -- Napoleon Hill

** It was a DIFFERENT Lou! **

Oh wow! I just experienced one of those fabulous "Twilight Zone" moments! ♪♫  Do-do-do-do  ♪♫

In my previous post, I wrote about Lou Grant inspiring me to work harder on my book......

But I just realized, it wasn't Lou Grant.....(or Ed Asner, for that matter).....

It was my publisher, Lou, at High Hill Press!

Oh my gosh!! I feel like it was one of those things that is right in front of you, yet you miss it, because you don't realize IT is what you're looking for!

I am SO doing the Happy Dance....even while sitting ON my office chair.....but as soon as I post this, I'll be dancing standing up......not too long, though. I gotta get back to my book!!

Thank you, Lou!! (and really, shouldn't I still thank the imaginary Lou, as well? I think so!)

The pieces of the puzzle are finally coming together.

Writing became such a process of discovery that I couldn't wait to get to work in the morning: I wanted to know what I was going to say. ~ Sharon O'Brien

** Spunk! -- I've Got Spunk! **

How many of you remember "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" from the 1970's? It was such a well written, classy comedy with many memorable episodes. One of my favorites popped into my head this evening. I was contemplating the progress I have and have not made on my book, and all of a sudden, I heard Lou Grant's voice saying, "You've got spunk! I hate spunk!"

And then I heard myself saying, "Oh yeah, Mr. Grant? Well you just wait. You haven't even begun to see spunk! You've never seen the Becky Povich version of spunk! I'm going to sit my butt down, stop dilly-dallying around, and get my book completed! What do you have to say about that?"

"Well then...I'd say I guess I was wrong....about you, anyway. You go ahead and show me your spunk. Show me that finished book. Then you'll have proven to me that determination, dedication and spunk can move mountains."

The Fine Print: Disclaimer: Neither Lou Grant (or Ed Asner) and I have ever had a real conversation, either fictional or real, spoken or unspoken.

Instead of thinking about where you are, think about where you want to be. It takes twenty years of hard work to become an overnight success.--Diana Rankin

** It's Another Tea Cup, Tea Time Tuesday! **

It's another Tuesday, and I have another pretty tea cup I'd like to share. I'm joining Lady Katherine at Tea Time Tuesday, and also Martha and Terri at their Tea Cup Tuesday. I bought this one at the Antique Mall near my home, the same day I got the one I posted last week. Remember the one with the pretty yellow and gold flowers, with the Kresge price tag still on it?! I don't remember exactly what I paid for this one, but I know it wasn't more than $5.00.

This one really caught my eye, for various reasons. I love the tiny and delicate pink roses, the decorative gold scroll design along the top of the cup, and I particularly love the "double" handle! I thought it was so unique.

This picture is slightly blurry. My apologies! My camera doesn't take very good close-ups, but I wanted to show the double handle.

In this photo, you can see the tiny gold line inside the tea cup. Another delicate touch!

The plate also has gold around the edge, which is slightly scalloped.

The cup is very lightweight and translucent in the upper part.

The saucer is quite a bit heavier.

There are no markings on either piece.

This cute little book is one of five I bought at Dollar Tree a couple of months ago. I've just been saving them for upcoming gifts I might need.....OR.... for a Blog Give-Away!.....stay tuned!

I hope you enjoyed taking a peak at one of my bargain purchases!

"Each cup of tea represents an imaginary voyage." ~Catherine Douzel

** This 'n That on a Thursday Afternoon **

Hot Fun in the Summertime!
Today has been a cloudy, sunny, rainy, sunny, humid, cloudy, hot, steamy kind of day, and all I can say is, "Thank goodness for air conditioning!" There's not a day that goes by in this kind of weather when I don't wonder how in the world we survived back in the 1950's when I was growing up. We lived in the same general vicinity that I live now....the humid St. Louis area....and all we had was a window fan in our tiny living room. I don't remember even having small fans in our bedrooms, although we may have. I always thought my parents weren't very smart because they always had the window fan facing out, pushing all the air outside! I think I managed to talk my dad into turning it once in awhile and have it blow on me, but obviously it didn't cool me off at all, since it was blowing hot air! And don't worry....I'm not going to make any silly jokes about "hot air" in my family!

(This fan looks just like the one we had. Photo courtesy: worthpoint.com)

My brother, Mike, and I used to amuse ourselves by yelling into the fan and making funny noises! Ah, the Good Old Days! Who needed video games and such? We had fun just hanging around with our family and friends....and using our imaginations. (Oh, and yes, we did at least have TV. All the shows were in black and white then.) Okay...I better quit, or I'll sound like I'm 100 years old!

Great News about Scott! Most of you are aware of the health issues my oldest son, Scott, has been dealing with the past couple of weeks. I'm happy to say that his last CT came back with good results and all seems to be fine now...finally! All he needs to do is start eating and gain back the 20 lbs that he lost! He's a slender guy in the first place, so he is really thin now. But, I'm sure a few of his favorite pizzas will help!Thanks so much to all of you who kept him in your thoughts and prayers.

Blog Highlight: You know I like to let you in on things I've discovered while blogging. My friend, Pat, over at Critter Alley is having a blog contest, with no entry fee, and the winner will receive $25.00 CASH! Wow! Jump on over to her blog and read all about it. Entries can be submitted until Monay, July 12th.

(As always, I'm not getting paid or gaining anything by posting info about this contest.)

I have two quotes to share today. I just couldn't make up my mind between them, so I decided to get a little wacky and post them both! Look out....I'm getting zany, wild and madcap!!

(Does this look like the photo of a normal woman?! Depends on what you consider normal....I must confess, it is I...wild and wacky Becky!)

"There's no half-singing in the shower. You're either a rock star or an opera diva!" -- Unknown

"We all have our 'good old days' tucked away inside our hearts, and we return to them in daydreams like cats to favorite armchairs." -- Brian Carter

** A Book Give-Away at "Write Now" **

Hey Everyone! Jump on over to Karen Lange's blog: Write Now. She just posted Part One of an interview with writer Sarah Sundin, whose new book A Distant Melody was recently published. It's a historical romance set during WWII and sounds like a great read. Sarah has graciously offered one of the books for a give-away on Karen's blog. Just read the details there and leave a comment. Good Luck!  Oh, and you only have until this Friday, July 9th, at NOON Eastern Standard Time, so get on over there....!

"I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see." -- John Burroughs

** TEA CUP TUESDAY **

Okay.....it appears as if Blogger has repaired the "comment" problem. It still doesn't show the correct number of comments at the very end of the post, but when you get into the comment section, it does.
*Does that make any sense at all?!*  3:00 pm CDT 7/6/10

It's "Tea Cup Tuesday". I'm joining Martha's Favorites and Terri's Artful Affirmations and Lady Katherine's Tea Parlor. Thank you so much for inviting me to share my tea cups!

I'm truly excited to show one of my recent finds at the Antique Mall near my home. I think this particular set is so unique. First of all, it's not pink! It's a lovely golden yellow, on a white background, trimmed in gold.

Also, the edges of both the cup and saucer are slightly scalloped, which adds even more beauty, I think.

The "back" side of the cup has just the one flower bud .

And the Pièce de résistance is....................photo below.............

THE BOTTOM OF THE SAUCER STILL HAS THE "KRESGE" PRICE TAG OF 49¢

Isn't that hilarious?? I think if I were the owner, I would've removed that before I attempted to sell it! How many of you are familiar with the old Kresge stores?? We had them in St. Louis when I was really young. They were similar to Woolworth's.....kind of a small discount/department store, before there were K-Marts and such. (I think the same man, Mr. Kresge, also owned K-Mart.)

I paid $4.99 for the set, but I would've paid a lot more, just because I loved the old-fashioned price tag!!

"The mere chink of cups and saucers tunes the mind to happy repose." -- George Gissing

** Copious Calls For Submissions **

Recently I mentioned that I wanted to post several Calls for Submissions. I usually stumble across various websites and don't remember how I even landed there. This morning I took the time to go through one of those sites, which posts tons of magazines. The main site is: Bella Online; The Voice of Women. It lists magazines from A to Z, with a little something for (almost) everyone.

Every now and then, with these types of sites, there are sometimes errors in the URLs listed, or the publication will no longer be around. Then I usually check the name in Google and see if I can find it there.

I have checked all the ones listed below, scanned the submission guidelines, and read that they are paying publications. Some also are looking for photography submissions. During my "speed reading", I tried to catch any words that might hint that the site could possibly be offensive to anyone, so hopefully I did a good job! I didn't bother with any that only paid something like $10.00 per article.

As always, I am not affiliated with, or being paid anything for listing these sites. I just do it out of the kindness of my own heart!!  ☺

http://www.iluvcats.com/writguidfori.html


http://www.animalnetwork.com/cats/writer.asp


http://www.cricketmag.com/pages_content.asp?page_id=6


http://www.freelancewriting.com/guidelines/pages/


http://www.guideposts.com/angels


http://mybusinessmag.com/about/guide.php


http://www.nationalgeographic.com/traveler/writer-guidelines.html


http://www.ohiomagazine.com/Main/WritersPhotographerGuidelines.aspx


http://www.oklahomatoday.com/site/editorial/editorialGuidelines.aspx


http://www.oregonquarterly.com/guidelines.php


http://www.romantichomes.com/  (I couldn't find a "writer guidelines" on this, but maybe y'all can!)


http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/about/submission-guidelines


http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/guidelines/writers.aspx


http://www.spiritledwriter.com/guidelines.html


http://www.edweek.org/tm/index.html


http://www.thebark.com/content/submission-guidelines


http://www.threepennyreview.com/submissions.html



** Also: Two Anthologies Accepting Stories:

http://www.chickensoup.com/form.asp?cid=possible_books


http://patchworkpath.com/index.php/story-calls


(I'm a little partial to Chicken Soup for the Soul, since I've had stories published in their books!!...AND just recently had a story accepted by Patchwork Path for an upcoming book of theirs! )


"The writer is only half a book. The reader is the other half." -- P.L. Travers, author of Mary Poppins