Tiger eye and mandrake root! It’s finally time for
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| courtesy google images |
The Contest: write a 100 word Halloween story appropriate for children (title not included in the 100 words), using the words pumpkin, broomstick, and creak. Your story can be poetry or prose, scary, funny or anything in between, but it will only count for the contest if it includes those 3 words and is 100 words (you can go under, but not over!) Get it? Halloweensie – because it’s not very long and it’s for little people 🙂 (And yes, I know 100 words is short but that’s part of the fun and the challenge! We got nearly 80 fantastic entries last year so I know you can do it!) Also, you may use the words in any form – e.g. creak, creaky, creaks, creaking, creaked. No illustration notes please!
Post your story on your blog between right now this very second and Friday October 31st by 11:59 PM EDT and add your post-specific link to the list below. There will be no Would You Read It Wednesday or Perfect Picture Book Friday this week, so this post and the list of links will stay up all week for everyone to enjoy. (I hope you will all visit each other! :)) If you don’t have a blog and would like to enter, you can simply copy and paste your entry in the comments section below. (Or, if you have difficulty with the comments, which unfortunately sometimes happens, you may email your entry to me and I’ll post it for you!)
The Judging: in a grueling, marathon weekend, my lovely assistants and I will narrow down the entrants to 3 top choices (hee hee hee – okay, who are we kidding? :)) which will be posted here and voted on for a winner on Monday November 3rd. The winner will be announced in a special Thursday post on November 6th. If we get more than 20 entries, I will post 6 finalists and give prizes for 1st through 3rd. If by some chance we get the kind of turn out we did last year, all bets are off. I may post as many as 10 finalists and I’ll probably end up giving everyone a prize 🙂 But we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it 🙂
The Prizes: we’ve got some seriously amazing prizes! (words in color are links to more info)
– Julie Hedlund‘s fantastic new course How To Make Money As An Author, interesting, educational and suitable for writers at any stage of their career
– a 2015 membership to Children’s Book Insider, an absolutely fabulous resource for kid lit writers of all kinds, generously offered by Jon Bard and Laura Backes
– a picture book manuscript critique from the renowned Alayne Christian (prose only, 800 words or less)
Alayne Kay Christian is an award winning author of BUTTERFLY KISSES FOR GRANDMA AND GRANDPA. She is represented by Erzsi Deak of Hen&Ink Literary Studio. To read more about Alayne, her critique service, and her books visit her websites and blog.
– a picture book manuscript critique (rhyme or prose) from Penny Parker Klostermann who, after extensive experience critiquing for writing partners, members of various kid lit groups, and clients of Erin Murphy Literary Agency, is opening her own critique service!!!
Website: www.traceymcox.com
Blog: www.traceymcox.wordpress.com
– an e-pub or PDF copy (winner’s choice) of Linda Ashman‘s Nuts And Bolts Guide To Writing Picture Books
– a personalized signed copy of I WANNA GO HOME by Karen Kaufman Orloff, the latest in the brilliant PB series that began with I WANNA IGUANA. (Reviewed HERE for PPBF)
– a personalized signed copy of I AM COW HEAR ME MOO by Jill Esbaum (reviewed for Perfect Picture Books HERE and HERE – yep, it’s so popular it got reviewed for PPBF twice :))
– a personalized signed copy of NINJA RED RIDING HOOD by Corey Rosen Schwartz, the riveting follow-up to THE THREE NINJA PIGS. (Reviewed HERE for PPBF)
– a PDF copy of Ryan Sias’s A Spooky-Doodle E-Book, “doodle pages, drawing lessons and writing prompts inspire kids to invent their own stories, characters and artwork.”
Now then. Time for my sample entry which I provide because I would never ask you to do anything I wouldn’t do myself. Also, in case anyone is worried about the quality of their entry they have only to read my foolish attempts to be filled with confidence that their’s is MUCH better! I have to confess, I was really down to the wire this year (my schedule is a little bit nuts!), so, ahem, yeah.. I’ll be proofreading after I post since I’m out of time 🙂 (And I usually do one rhyme and one prose, but I don’t have a prose one this year… yet… if I have time maybe I’ll write one and add it during the week :))
So without further ado:
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| Haggie, as illustrated by the fabulously talented Julie Rowan-Zoch click for PORTFOLIO, DIGITAL, SKETCHBOOK |
you owe me a pumpkin pie!”
Pirate Ploy (100 words)
shouts, “Mrs. Johnson! Trick-or-treat!”
Everyone feeling better about their stories now? I should certainly HOPE so! 🙂
I can’t wait to read all of yours! I’m so looking forward to them! I hope there will be a lot – the more the merrier! And there are still 4 days to write, so you have time if you haven’t written yet. Feel free to spread the word to your writing friends as well.
Remember to put your post-specific link (not your general blog link or people will find the wrong page if you post again before the contest is over) in the list below!
Happy Writing and Happy Halloween!!! 🙂
There are already 57 entries in the comment section below that you won’t want to miss! (names are links):
Barbara – The Trick Or Treat Troll
Eric – Witch Poem
Lata – Halloween Colors
Nomie – Mabel’s Spooky Soiree
Tracie – The Misspelled Witch
Rachel K – A Home On Halloween
Suzy – Witch In My Hamper
Sarah C – The Moon Is Up!
Angela B – A Messy Halloween
Sue – Untitled
Kimberly C – First Flight Of Halloween
Ann – Off To See The Wizard
Susan – The Contest
Michelle V – The Halloween Sneer
Ashley – Pumpkin’s Plight
Abigail – Maddie’s First Broomstick
Jim – Jack
Melissa – Pumpkin’s Patch
Pia – The Green Witch’s Brew
Kathleen – The Littlest Pumpkin
Lori D – The Trick Or Treat Bag
Debbie – Halloween In A Box
Sharalyn – The Witch And The Pumpkin Contests
Jaymie – No Tricks, Just Treats
Jenifer – Broomstick Ball
Ellen – Emma’s Evening Ride
Beth – Halloween Night
Anne – What’s That?
Brandie – No Ordinary Witch
Marty – Winnie’s Spell
Michelle B – This Year’s Halloween Mascot
Jessica – Spooky Sharing
Alistair – The Raven And The Pumpkin
Kirsten – Family Re-BOO-nion
Jodi – Halloween Hide-And-Go-Seek
Anne B – The Pumpkin Patch Scarecrow
Carol – Halloween Night
Nicole – Black At Night
Hope – In The Wee Hours Of Halloween
Maggie – Arabella The Witch
Gina – Halloween Chase
Kelly – The Pumpkin King
Mandy – On This Night
Eric – The Scarecrow
Cat – Etty Bitty Belina
Julie A – Orinda Owl’s First Halloween
Donna R – The Witches’ Gathering
Kathy – Who Is It?
Robin – Kitchin-nastic Trick Or Treats
Sandy – Pete’s Pumpkins
Judy – Halloween Parade
Merry – Witch School
Victoria – Creaks
Amelia – Full Moon Rising
Colleen – Tell It To The Ghosts
Sydney – Midnight Critters
Stefanie – Monsters Rock
Susanna Leonard Hill 
ENTRY POSTED FOR BARBARA D.
The Trick or Treat Troll
The Troll sat under the creaky bridge waiting. Stepping out into the clearing, something grabbed his hand.
“C'mon silly,” said a little voice, “you'll miss the fun!”
The shiny-pink frock, glittery crown, the miniature broomstick…all glowed in the moonlight.
“Sorcerer!” snarled Troll.
The little girl giggled and told Troll she liked his costume too.
What powers she had! Every door opened for her, and not just one treat was given, sometimes MORE.
The enchantress dropped Trolls hand and evenly divided treats from the plastic pumpkin head.
“Don't eat it all at once.” teased the little charmer.
End
by Barbara DiMarco
ENTRY POSTED FOR LATA
Halloween Colors
Creak! Rattle! Boom!
Little Pumpkin shivered. “I’m scared, Mama”
“It must be just the wind,” Mother said without much drama.
Bump! Thud! Whoosh!
Five witches flew in through the window.
Clang! Ding! Clatter!
Five broomsticks hit the floor.
“Flying witches? Eeek!”
Little Pumpkin turned ash white.
“Talking pumpkins? Yikes!”
The witches shrieked in fright.
The first witch turned spinach green, the second eggplant purple.
The third banana yellow, and the fourth pumpkin orange.
The fifth witch yelled, “Let’s go!” as she turned tomato red.
When talking pumpkins meet flying witches,
It’s a crazy color spread!
ENTRY POSTED FOR NOMIE
Mabel’s Spooky Soiree
By Nomie O’Bry
Mabel Maybelle was a witch who lived in a cottage in the dark woods. One Halloween night, she had a costume party at her house and invited all of her monster friends to come. Before her guests arrived, she carefully carved a spooky face into a huge pumpkin, swept the dust and grime into the house with her magic broomstick, hung spider webs on the walls, and put the creak-creak sound back into the floorboards of her house. All of the monsters at the party dressed like normal people for their costumes and everyone danced, laughed, and feasted until sunrise.
Those examples are awesome. Looking forward to reading the entries post-Disney… In a few days!
Love the re reversal Nomie
Live the sounds Lata!
Ha ha! These are giving me a chuckle this morning. I like the way you worked creak in their Barbara!
Love your sample entries, Susanna! Good luck all!
Love the entries! Mine's posted! Good luck everyone.
Can't wait to read the entries. Love your, Sus. Off I go to read. xoxo
Hahahaha. Fantastical ending!!
Oooo, onomatopoeia. Beautiful. I love to use those too.
I love this entry. Love that you used a troll. Super creative.
Awesome examples! I'm still editing mine… so… Later this week! 😀 Can't wait to read them all!
Your samples are spooky and fun, Susannah. Thanks for hosting this Halloweensie Treat!
OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD
The pumpkin moon hung low in the sky lighting the trick-or-treaters’ way through the neighborhood. The dilapidated mansion stood at the top of the hill. Wizard’s invitation said, “Arrive exactly at midnight”.
Lion trembled. He thought he heard the Wicked Witch cackling, but it was only Tin Man’s joints creaking.
Just as Dorothy knocked on the door her cell phone beeped. Scarecrow yelled, “Hit the dirt,” and ducked for cover,
which tripped Tin Man who tumbled down the steps,
which bumped a quivering Lion into . . .
Harry Potter?
“Pardon me, have you seen my broomstick?”
Can't help thinking how coldand moist troll's hand must have felt! Fun entry, Barbara!
Great use of the senses!
Fun twist, Nomie!
Dang, Susanna, those examples are great! Would love to sketch up the first one especially! Thanks for doing this contest! With no trick or treaters left here it's a nice treat for me!
First Flight of Halloween
by Kimberly Cowger
The carved pumpkin’s flickering light is all I have guiding
my way as I tip toe past my snoring sister. I stifle a scream as a spider scurries across
my foot. The creaky floor board
causes
my sister to stir; I hold my breath until she’s snoring once more.
Reaching under her bed, my fingers grasp my prize. Without another
sound, I seat myself onto the broomstick
and glide past her. The grin on the pumpkin’s flickering face matches my
own as I woosh out the window, rising higher into the sky for my first
flight of Halloween!
Can't wait to have a bit of time to read these! Fun fun fun. Mine is ALMOST done – should have it up by Wednesday. TOO fun!
OK – here's my entry for the Halloweensie contest
Someone is stealing pumpkins. But who?
Thomas set a broomstick trap, but caught nothing.
Sara clicked a picture of a very blurry polar bear.
Merry hid behind the scarecrow and waited.
Creak! She followed something to the river where it disappeared.
Then a ransom note appeared on the library door: I have your
pumpkins. Come to the old barn at midnight.
Batmen and dragons and fairies and ghosts gather. They march
to the barn, through the doors and … Trick-or-Treat!
Pies everywhere, enough for everyone! Hot cider, fiddlers,
clapping and dancing. Let’s do this again next year!
Glad to hear yours is almost done Joanne. I got a bit of time on the computer today so I made sure to post my entry before I could forget! 🙂
OH! I'm out. That Captain Jack poem had me mesmerized and little chills were playing all up and down my arms. That bad boy needs to be published ASAP. eek. still quivering.
I feel just terrible about my story! Maybe I'll try another for later in the week which I hope is allowed. I see you did two stories, Susanna so I might too. The one I put up is not scary or halloweenie. I want to make mine scary. whoo wooo booo! 🙂
Love these contests though, so fun! I like these stories. Ssoo much better than mine. And I can't help but compare.. Though I guess everyone is a winner who dared put a story up on their blog or here in comments. Yay! Folks! 🙂
Great story, Kimberly! I love it. 🙂
I know what you mean, Julie. I don't get trick or treaters here in the country so this is a fine way to celebrate. I just love this contest. Can't wait to see what you come up with! 🙂
Oh Ann, this is so cute!! I placed mine at Hogwarts. So much fun! Thanks for joining in the fun. 🙂
Thanks for joining into the fun, Nomie. I Love your story. So halloweenie. 🙂
Great use of images and senses,Lata. Thanks for joining in the fun! 🙂
Hi Barbara! This is a great story! Very imaginative. I love the use of monsters and dress up in making believe on Halloween, then the switch so subtle done. 🙂
Oh, for goodness' sake, Susanna, you always act like you've not prepared at all and then writes a story that is of prize-winning quality! LOL! I loved both those poems (especially the second).
I can't do this contest this year (in fact, I really should not be online since I owe my sci-fi group a couple of stories in 3 days…for upcoming anthologies that also benefit Doctors Without Borders), but I look forward to reading the entries. 🙂
After reading yours…um…I'm not so sure about mine 🙂 It's A Messy Halloween. I'm not much in the way of a rhymer so it's sort of a flash fiction. It will be up on my blog Wednesday but I figured I'd share it here in the comments:
A Messy Halloween
“My word!” Mommy said, hands on hips.
Pumpkin seeds bounced along the kitchen floor to the up and down rhythm of mommy's wand in my fist. Grandma moved her walker doing a two-step. Mimi, our black cat, jumped on the window sill and meowed. The jack-o-lantern looked on with his crooked grin.
Mommy snapped her fingers. Her broomstick flew into her grasp. The floor creaked as she danced, bobbing her head to the pots and pans’ beat.
“A messy Halloween is the best Halloween when my little witch comes into her powers,” she sang.
And we danced the Halloween away.
Yay for Halloweensie! And yay for your two sample examples, Susanna…the first is so funny and the second is quite beautiful…very lyrical…Renee will love it. 😉
I'm looking forward to reading everyone's entries…it's an added bonus when new people submit and we get to 'meet' them and visit their websites. 😉 Thank you so much for putting this all together!
What fun, Sue! A Halloween surprise party for everyone…I'll take a cup of hot cider, please. 😉
Oh goodie, Kimberly! I can remember the fights my sister and I had as kids because I always wanted to wear her clothes and use her things (she was 3 years older and had better stuff 🙂 )…I wonder what's going to happen if her sister finds out she's been using her broomstick. 😉
Hahaha…Ann, I love your smash-up of The Wizard of Oz meets Harry Potter…very clever…great images of the domino effect as they all fall into each other. 🙂
Hi Nomie! I LOVE your mc's name…and I LOVE that she sweeps the dust and grime INTO the house…so funny. 🙂
Love all the color words, Lata…what a great Halloween story for little ones. 🙂
The innocence of a young child…you portrayed that perfectly, Barbara…she accepts the troll as a companion and he is in awe of her 'powers'…great story. 🙂
Yay! Love these contests. They're so much fun. Your sample stories are wonderful as always, Susanna. 🙂 Thank you for hosting another great contest!
Thanks, Sweetie!
Thanks! My intention was for the reader to decide if the mansion belonged to the “Wizard of Oz” or Hogwarts. 🙂
I especially love the pirate one, Susanna. I have an interview up on the blog today already pre-planned for Hazel so I will post my entry on Wednesday.
Susanna, I'm not able to connect to Link #5. Just fyi. 🙂
There may not be candy in the house but thanks to you there is lots of Halloween spirit, Susanna! You always post clever stories.
Linda Ford, I really enjoyed your story, The Halloween Surprise. Fun word play and very cute. Great job! 🙂
Susanna…your examples are scary cute! That's a good thing in case you're wondering! As in…it's scary how creative you are in such a short amount of time! I'm looking forward to reading all the entries!! So much fun!
ENTRY POSTED FOR TRACIE
The Misspelled Witch
by Tracie Percival
I’m not scary. I can’t get this right!
I mix these potions, but no scare, no fright!
I don’t like things that cackle or creak!
I haven’t scared anyone in over a week!
Christmas is more cheery, not Halloween night.
But since I’m a witch, I’ll try this last potion with all my might!
A little of this, a whole lot of that,
Together this will make a spooky black cat!
My broomstick will mix left and then right,
Viola an animal, black like midnight!
What is this in my pumpkin caldron I see?
Oh no, a little black puppy!!!!