Hey!
What are you all doing here?
Don’t you know it’s Thursday?
I don’t post on Thursdays.
Go home.
I’ll see you tomorrow for Perfect Picture Books.
Oh!
You’re here for a reason?
Well, I’ll be darned!
You must have all come over to hear about my hangnail!
Aren’t you just the sweetest to be so concerned!
Let me tell you, it’s a doozy. It started on Monday when I was washing the dishes. It was just that little tiny painful beginning, you know? And I noticed it when I went to dry my hands and that painful little poinky end got caught on the dish towel and I was like, “Oh, man! Not a hangnail!”….
Wait a minute.
You’re all managing to look very patient.
But I heard yawning…
…and I see some eye-rolling in the back over there….
You didn’t really come over to hear about my hangnail, DID you!
I KNEW it!
So why are you here on a Thursday?
Go home, I tell you!
Jeez Louise! You’d think I had nothing better to do than to entertain you lot with the
Heeheehee! I’m sorry! I just can’t help myself. Heeheehee. I don’t even HAVE a hangnail! Heeheeheeheehee!
Okay, really. I’m sorry for tormenting you with my juvenile behavior. Let’s start with a few surprises, shall we?
As you are all aware by now, we had a record turnout for the Halloweensie Contest – 79 entries!
I was thrilled beyond measure to see so many wonderful stories!
But with large entry numbers come hard choices. My assistant judges and I worked hard to winnow the total down to a manageable number of finalists that we felt were truly all-around deserving of that distinction, and those were the ones we presented to you on Monday for your vote.
There were, however, many other entries that were outstanding in certain areas even though they might not have qualified all-around for one reason or another.
So my assistant judges and I would like to award recognition and a small prize to the following authors for the following merits:
1. For Honorable Mention In The Competition As A Whole:
Vivian Kirkfield for Halloween Dance Party Countdown
Carrie Finison for Callie’s Prize-Winning Potion
Lauri Meyers for White Cat’s Halloween
Suzy Levinson for Black Cat Goes To Spooky School
2. For Best Use of Poetic Language:
Kathy Moncrief for Halloween Night!
Heather Greene for Untitled (Hallowed Eve)
Julie Rowan-Zoch for Halloween Comes To The Farm
Bradin Farnworth for The Witches’ Song
Kimberley Moran for Black Glass Cat
3. For Spookiest Entry: (not already in the finals)
Teresa M.I. Schaefer for Grim Concoction
Laura Shovan for The Old Hotel
Jackie Wellington for A Disappearing Act
Deirdre Sheridan Englehart for The Spookiest Night!
4. For Funniest Entry: (not already in the finals)
Mike Allegra for Spooky Piggy
Janet Johnson for Brewster’s Trick
Sheila Renfro for Helga’s Black Cat Search
5. For Sweetest/Cutest Entry: (not already in the finals)
Deb for Boo: The Scaredy Halloweenie Cat
6. For Great Kid Appeal: (not already in the finals)
Michelle Barnes for The Witching Hour
Meg Miller for The Halloween CAW Ball
Kirsten Bock for Scare D-Cat
7. For Most Original Format:
Nancy Hatch for Cackle… The Spooky Black Cat – in rap! 🙂
8. For Best All-Around Entry By A Newcomer To The Blog: (not already in the finals)
Juliana Lee for Sleepless Hallow’s Eve
Doris K. Stone for The Fat Black Cat Sat
9. For Favorite Character:
Stacy Couch for her Ninja Ballerina in Olivia vs. The Witch 🙂
Congratulations to all of you for fantastic elements of your stories! You may all email me at susanna[at]susannahill[dot]com to collect your prize, which is your choice of one of the following: (the titles are all links so you can go see what they’re about)
For Kindle:
The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide To Character Expression by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi , OR
The Postitive Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide To Character Attributes by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi, OR
The Negative Trait Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide To Character Flaws by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglisi, OR
In paperback:
Show & Tell In A Nutshell: Demonstrated Transitions From Telling To Showing by Jessica Bell
And now…
…the moment you’ve all been waiting for…
…a picture of my hangnail!
… THE WINNERS OF THE 2013 HALLOWEENSIE CONTEST ACCORDING TO THE POPULAR VOTE!!! (which did not have the consideration to work out very neatly as you will see…)
In First Place, winner of a picture book manuscript critique from Corey Rosen Schwartz (celebrated author of The Three Ninja Pigs and other wonderful picture books) AND a copy of Linda Ashman’s brand new Nuts & Bolts Guide To Writing Picture Books…
DDDDDRRRRRUUUUUMMMMMRRRRROOOOOLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!
Congratulations, Nata!!!
In Second Place, winner of a picture book manuscript critique AND a query letter critique from Heather Ayris Burnell, author of Bedtime Monster,
Congratulations, Marcie!!!
In Third Place, we have a tie between
One of them will win the signed copies of Halloween Hustle by Charlotte Gunnufson, The Monster Who Lost His Mean by Tiffany Haber, and Marathon Mouse by Amy Dixon, which was the original 3rd prize. The other will win The Writer’s Workout: 366 Tips, Task andTechniques From Your Writing Coach by Christina Katz AND Rip The Page: Adventures In Creative Writing by Karen Benke – they will have to fight amongst themselves and/or come up with a way to split and share the spoils 🙂
Congratulations, Erik and Margaret!!!
In Fifth Place, we have another tie! between
Since I didn’t previously announce prizes past 3rd, I’m going to keep this tie fair by awarding both Laura and Cheryl a $20 Amazon Gift Certificate – that way they won’t have to fight like Erik and Margaret 🙂
Congratulations, Laura and Cheryl!!!
All the winners should email me at susanna[at]susannahill[dot]com with the subject heading Prize Winner so we can work out details for you to receive your prizes! Finalists who did not finish in the top 6 (Joanna, Nancy, Katie, Donna and Buffy) may also contact me for their choice of the Kindle or paperback prizes listed above.
Congratulations again to all our winners – it was a stiff competition!! – and congratulations to EVERYONE who wrote and entered a story in the contest. You all deserve a huge round of applause, a confetti parade, and a large amount of chocolate cake 🙂
Thank you to everyone who helped make this contest SO MUCH FUN, whether by writing an entry, reading people’s stories, leaving comments for the authors, and/or voting in the finals. It’s because of all of you that this contest was such a success, so many, many thanks from the bottom of my heart!
And before we go, I will give you all advance warning so you can start planning a little time into your December schedule…
The 3rd Annual Holiday Writing Contest will be coming up sometime in the neighborhood of December 11-18. I’m running it a little bit earlier this year so we can all fully enjoy it and still have time for last minute holiday things. And to whet your appetites and get your thinking caps on, I will tell you that first prize is something AWESOME! A picture book manuscript read and critique by an actual editor at an actual highly regarded publishing house!!! But that is all I’m saying for now 🙂 You will just have to stay tuned for more details as the Holiday Contest approaches. And I will do my best to post the rules well in advance so you all have time to work on your stories!
Have a terrific Thursday everyone, and thanks again for making the Halloweensie Contest such a wonderful time for all! 🙂
Susanna Leonard Hill 
Thank you, Susanna! 🙂
Thank you, Susanna, for having this cool and neat contest every year! We just love it and you deserve a prize.
Congratulations winners! Your stories were great and wonderful and amazing and awessome. thanks for sharing us.
What fun! Congrats to all. . .im still getting around to reading everyone's entry.😜
Thanks so much for the challenge, Susanna. Looking forward to the holiday contest!
That judging was waaaay tougher for you than it was for us! Good job, Susanna. Whew. Congratulations to all the contestants. I'll keep waiting and hoping that we'll get to see a hangnail someday soon…..
Congrats to all the winners! So hard to choose with so many great entries. I read TONS of spookily good poems and stories. And thanks to Susanna too for being such a supportive, hard-working host!
So SHL, nrhatch! And so true. Love this!
I'm so glad you enjoyed the contest, Lauri! Thank you so much for participating. And we did love Violet 🙂
And I am lucky to have all of you because you're the ones that make everything so much fun! 🙂 Congratulations on a very fun and clever story!! 🙂
Thank you Catherine!!!!!
Thank you for sharing poor little Olivia who couldn't decide what costume to wear – a dilemma all our little ones have faced 🙂 And thanks for your enthusiastic participation – it wouldn't be the same without you!
Thanks so much for participating, Jarm, and for your beautifully written story – there were some very evocative details! I'm so glad you enjoyed it and look forward to your Holiday Contest entry!
Congratulations Marcie! I loved Miss Sadie!
thank you Joanna 🙂
My imaginary hangnail is not a pretty sight and might give you nightmares 🙂 It is WAY scarier than a real hangnail! Thanks so much for reading and commenting and voting and generally participating in the contest, Genevieve! Maybe you and Cupcake will dream something up for the next one 🙂
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thank you Stacy 🙂
Congratulations Nata, Marcie, Erik and Margaret. All wonderful entries. And congratulations to all those who won honorable mentions. Wow!
Big hand of applause to Susanna, her judges, and all of those who have donated prizes. Such a great event!
Thank you, Pat, and thanks for your participation! It was quite the event, wasn't it? Makes me look forward to the Holiday Contest 🙂
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Geez, and the hangnail story was getting SO interesting! I'm late to your post this evening, but CONGRATULATIONS WINNERS! And all the special mentions… this is above and beyond generous. What a wonderful surprise so close to my bedtime. Sweet dreams tonight!
You win for the best comment award!
Hey Romelle, I was gonna say that! How funny is nr's comment and oh sooooooo true. the best blog!!
Susanna, you are amazing! Your appreciation of writers knows no bounds and I'm just over the moon happy for the people that came to your blog to play and have great fun! It's so wonderful how you're honoring everyone that partcipated in your special event. I know everyone appreciates all of your hard work. And assistants, YOU also ROCK! CONGRATULATIONS TO EVERYONE!
oh, Susanna, you sure know how to make us all smile – thank you! and congrats, Nata – October PB class 4evah. 🙂
Well, I could tell you more about the hangnail… Maybe I should make it a serial story 🙂 Congratulations to you for your sweet story, Michelle, and thanks so much for being such an enthusiastic participant 🙂
You're welcome, Suzy! Thank YOU for a delightful entry and for all your participation! 🙂
You're so sweet, Pam! I am happy to do it! I have as much fun as everyone else does 🙂 And it's really all the wonderful writers and readers who make it so much fun, so thank YOU for always showing up to support whatever nutty thing I'm currently involved in! 🙂
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Thank you Ms. Greanias! 🙂 You are very nice. Congratulations to you, too! 😀
Susanna, you are so sweet. Thank you! This was a fun contest and Nancy is right, you DO deserve a prize. 🙂
Congratulations to everyone who placed!! I couldn't read all the stories this time, but I'm sure they were terrific and it was very hard to choose.
Hearty congratulations to all the winners and I echo the words of Nancy (nrhatch).
I do feel guilty because I have not been around since the weekend to check on the last few entries, or to cast my vote. Health issues, hospital appointments and a visit from my daughter took priority. At least the best entries won and I am on to the next stage of investigation! All's well that ends well.
Big thank you to Susanna for holding the competition and drawing words out of people like me, who never knew we were capable of them. Sending hugs of thanks from a sunny 6°C, in Northern Ireland .
Congratulations to all the winners. What a fun contest. It must have been so hard to choose.
It was indeed hard to choose! But it was a joy to read so many wonderful stories!
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Oh my goodness, Grannymar! I hope you're okay!!! Sending all good thoughts and positive energy your way! As for the contest, thank you so much for your participation. I'm very glad if you enjoyed it and if it helped get those writing wheels in gear. And I didn't know you lived in Ireland! I've always wanted to go there… because of the scenery… and the ponies 🙂
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They were all terrific and it was very hard to choose and I will be needing some of your gorgeous desserts, Teresa! 🙂
My prize is getting to be part of this wonderful community, and having the opportunity to read all your wonderful stories! 🙂
Susanna, I was born down south in the Republic of Ireland, but moved north (UK) (for that four letter word beginning with 'L') almost thirty seven years ago. Ireland (the whole island) has wonderful treasures to offer the visitor providing they are come dressed like an onion – in layers – ready to peel off or add on when the sun appears or teases us by hiding.
Well I think it sounds lovely! And one of these days I'm going to get there! And if the 4 letter word has lasted for 37 years I'd say you're doing something right 🙂
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I wish it did. Alas, the horrible curse that cancer is, stole my soul-mate from me fifteen years ago. I still have my memories and nobody can steal them! 😀
Susanna, thank you so much! I had no idea “The Old Hotel” was even in the running for spookiest. Looking forward to reading one of those craft books. And, best of all, I had great fun with the writing prompt and reading everyone's responses.
thank you Suzy!!!
thank you Patricia 🙂
thank you Tracy! 🙂
Well it was very spooky! 🙂 It was also beautifully written and very poetic, and could just as easily have been listed in that category! I have to agree – the best part is getting to read so many wonderful stories! I'm so glad you came to join in!
Oh, no! I'm so sorry! How awful and sad 😦 But you are right. He will always live in your heart.
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Or she. I didn't mean to assume.
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Me too. Congratulations to all of the winners and thank you Susanna (and
Susanna's assistant) for being so generous with space on your blog and
with the lovely prizes!
Congratulations to all those winners!!! And congratulations to you Ms Hill for another success! I didn't manage to read all the entries, but the ones I read were all sure a Treat!!
You were correct the first time. He will always live on in my heart and when Elly, our daughter comes home we have many a giggle as we share memories of the happy times with her dad.
Well that's nice. I'm glad you have your daughter!
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It was an amazing contest! – far beyond what I expected or even hoped for! It was such a pleasure to have so many enthusiastic participants and to read so many entertaining stories! I'm glad you got a chance to take a peek at some of them 🙂
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I just wanted to stop by and say congrads to all the winners. I've been with my Christopher. Tests, questions, and more questions. Congrads everyone. ❤