Good morning, my little chickens!

Are things feeling a wee bit humdrum?

Is daily routine getting you down?

Does this look familiar?

Just as I suspected!

It seems we’ve all got a case of the I Haven’t Gone Anywhere Done Anything Seen Anyone For A Year So What The Heck Can I Write About Blues!

But don’t worry.

I can fix that! 😊

All that’s required is a little tomfoolery! A few high jinx and shenanigans to knock the K off of FUNK and get us back to good old F-U-N!

Who’s with me?

Give me a woo!

WOO!

Give me a hoo!

HOO!

What does that spell?

Well. . . technically it doesn’t actually spell anything, since neither woo nor hoo is a letter, but one way or another it comes out

WOOHOO!

Now! Let’s have some fun!

And fun in this instance is. . .

another round of the ever-popular, practically world famous

(Not a contest exactly… no room in the blog calendar, no time for judging, no gigantic prizes on offer…but still (hopefully!) tons of fun!)

Here’s how it works:

Starting today, each Monday until June 21st (which makes 7 Mondays total and will get us to the end of the school term) I will post a Mix ‘n’ Match Mini Writing Prompt for a 100 word story.  Post your story in the comment section for that week’s challenge (or if you have trouble posting it, email it to me and I’ll post it for you.)  At the end of the 7 weeks, everyone who has posted one story for each week’s prompt will

A) have 7 brand new stories to play with!  (Who knows? Your next picture book or even chapter book or longer might be sparked by something you write for the Challenge!)

B) be able to take credit for entertaining lots of fellow writers and their kids (not to mention you’ll entertain yourself and your own kids!)

and

C) qualify to win a prize from the Mix ‘n’ Match Mini Mystery Bag of Marvelous Prizes for Writers! (Last year we managed to scare up enough prizes that all of the approximately 40 people who completed the challenge got something, but we’ll have to see how the available prizes stack up this year – if there aren’t enough for everyone who completes the challenge we’ll have to randomly draw winners until we run out of prizes, but you will still win A and B above!)

You can compete with yourself to see if you can write all 7 stories!  You can compete with your writing friends to see if you can write more than they do! And if you want to get really competitive, you can all read the stories that are posted and “like” the ones you think are best and see who gets the most “likes” 😊 (If you do that there might be some special prizes…who can tell??? 😊)

When the going get’s humdrum, children’s writers beat the blues by playing writing games and creating new stories to keep themselves and everyone around them entertained!

So here we go!

Mix ‘n’ Match Mini Writing Prompt #1 for Week of May 10:

Choose a character from Column A and something the character needs from Column B and write a 100 word story for children entitled _____Column A_____ Needs A _____Column B_____ If you wish, you may also select a random item from Column C to include in your story.

For example: Hermit Crab Needs A Home. (And perhaps you’d include a harmonica somewhere in the story.)

Or, if something in Column C strikes your fancy you can use that as the thing your character needs, e.g. Hummingbird Needs Help.

Get the idea?

Here are the options:

Column A – Character	Column B – Something Needed	Column C – random item
Hedgehog	Home	Hockey Stick (or Hockey Puck)
Hammerhead	Hug	Horse (or Sea Horse)
Hermit Crab	Hint	Harmonica
Hummingbird	Hobby	Hero
Hare	Holiday	Help
Henry or Hilary	Hat	Helicopter

If a central idea would be helpful to you in your writing, you can focus your story on Mother’s Day, since that is fresh in all our minds this morning 😊, but that is NOT required.

In an attempt to answer possible questions I will say:

• you can write as many stories as you want each week
• you can post them at any time during the week (just make sure they’re on the Monday Mix ‘n’ Match Mini post for the week you’re entering – e.g. below for Week #1))
• you can play catch up (so if you miss a week you can go back and add to an earlier week if you’re trying to complete the challenge and qualify for prizes as long as all entries are posted on the correct week and are posted no later than Saturday June 26th at midnight Eastern time.)
• no illustration notes
• You may go over the word count if you’re on a roll and you wish to (because there is no judging 😊)
• You may write in poetry or prose

(This is where the sample I intended to write belongs, but since I haven’t had time to write it yet I’ll have to add it in!)

And here’s a little sampling of the prizes up for grabs to whet your competitive spirit 😊 MORE TO COME!

When it comes time for prizes, names of all those who completed the challenge will be drawn randomly and matched with prizes drawn randomly until we run out! 😊

⭐️ Picture Book Critique from Penny Parker Klostermann, the lovely and talented author of THERE WAS AN OLD DRAGON WHO SWALLOWED A KNIGHT (Random House 2015) and A COOKED-UP FAIRY TALE (Random House 2017)

⭐️ 30 Minute Q&A with Penny Klostermann

⭐️ Picture Book MS Critique OR Query Letter Critique (Winner’s Choice) from Jennifer Buchet, debut author of LITTLE MEDUSA’S HAIR DO-LEMMA (Clear Fork/Spork May 11, 2021)

⭐️ Picture Book MS Critique from Jen Raudenbush, agented writer of picture books, middle grade, and poetry. (Represented by Natascha Morris of The Tobias Literary Agency)

⭐️ 30 minute Zoom chat about anything industry related (manuscript, query letter, best practices for querying) with Becky Scharnhorst, amazing author of MY SCHOOL STINKS (Philomel Books, July 6, 2021)

⭐️ Webinar: How To Write Powerful First Pages Like A Pro by author and editor Alayne Kay Christian

⭐️ A copy of Mary Kole’s Writing Irresistible Kidlit: The Ultimate Guide to Crafting Fiction for Young Adult and Middle Grade Writers, donated by Nicole Loos Miller

⭐️ A personalized signed copy of SASSAFRAS AND HER TEENY TINY TAIL (MacLaren-Cochrane Publishing 2021) by Candice Marley Conner

⭐️ Making Picture Book Magic Self Study Class (any month)

⭐️ Magnetic Poetry – Little Box of Happiness

Check out the Week 1 Stories!

Henry Needs A Holiday – Joyce Uglow

Hank Needs A Hug – Jen Subra

Hare Needs (To Take) A Hint – Candice Marley Conner

Hummingbird Needs A Holiday – Laura Bower

Hummingbird Needs A Hug – Ann Gray

Humphrey Hummingbird Needs A (New) Hobby – Clearywriter

Hedgehog Needs A Hobby – Erika

Hare Needs A Hug – Brenda Whitehead

Henry Hare Needs A Hat – Marty Bellis

Henry Needs A Hug – Isabel Cruz Rodriguez

Hermit Crab Needs A Home – Sarah Hawklyn

Henry Hedgehog – Michelle S. Kennedy

Henrietta’s New Home – Rose Cappelli

Hilary Needs A Hug – Sarah Meade

Hermy The Hermit Crab’s New Home – Susan E. Schipper

Helicopter Hummingbird – Linda Schueler

Untitled – Marta Magellan

Hilary The Hummingbird – Julie Kurtz

A Holiday For Mrs. Hare – Judy Sobanski

Alphonso’s Real Estate: Fashionable Homes For Hermit Crabs – Nicole Loos Miller

Hyena’s Hiccups – Marla Yablon

Hermit Crab Needs A Holiday – Carrines Clifton

Henry Hummingbird Needs A Home – Jennifer Reichow

Henry’s Discovery – Dawn Young

Henry Needs Some Luck – Allison Strick

Henry Needs A Holiday Hero – Ashley Sierra

Hoglet Hurry Home – Sally Yorke-Viney

A Hat For Hammerhead – Ashley B. Pedigo

Hallie Hummingbird Needs A Holiday – Christine Alemshah

Hudson Hammerhead Needs A Hug – Jeannette Suhr

Henry Needs A Hobby – Sue Lancaster

Hare And His Harmonica – Lyn Jekowsky

Horst Needs A Hug – Elizabeth Meyer Zu Heringdorf

Hummingbird Needs A Holiday – Sara Kruger

Hammerhead Needs A Hockey Stick – Les Degnan

Henry Needs A Hint – Deb Sullivan

Hare Needs A Hobby – Marta Cutler

Hare Needs A Holiday – Aly Kenna

Hilary Needs A Hint – Mia Geiger

Henry Needs A Hint – Elenore Byrne

Hare Style – Hannah Roy LaGrone

Hillary Hare Needs A Holiday – Barbara Farr Renner

Hammerhead Needs A Holiday – Dianne Irving

Hilary Needs A Harmonica – MWREX

Henry Needs A Hug – Val McCammon

Harry Hammerhead Has A Hard Day – Susan Summers

A Horse For Hermit Crab – Jill Lambert

A Home For Hedgehog – Elizabeth Volkmann

Hare Needs A Home – Jessica Murray

Hammerhead Needs Help – Katie Schwartz

Untitled – Lauri Meyers

Hedgehog Needs A Hat – Candace

Hedgehog Needs A Home – Summer Hinderer

Spiny The Hedgehog – Eva Kaman

Hopping Lonely – Jamie Bills

Henry Needs A Hint – Lauren Scott

Hare Needs A Hat – Jana Mattern

Hilary’s Holiday – Bevin Rolfs Spencer

Henry Hare’s New Hobby – Bru Benson

Hedgehog Hugs – Marty Findley

Hermit Crab Needs A Hat – Lynn Katz

Henry Hammerhead Needed A Hug – Padgy Soltis

Hedgehog Hates Hugs – TL Fales

Hammerhead Needs A Hat – Amy Leskowski

Mama Hedgehog’s Mother’s Day Holiday – Robin Currie

Henry Needs A Hero – Colleen Owen Murphy

Hugo Hammerhead Needs A Hat – Deb Buschman

Henry Hedgehog Needs A Home – Elizabeth Muster

Hedgehog Needs A Hint – Brenna Jeanneret

Hummingbird Needs A Holiday – JC Kelly