The Halloweensie Contest!!! - aahhhroooooOOOOO!

Before we begin the contest, I just want to thank everyone who expressed their concern and sent their thoughts and prayers my way during the storm, and say that I hope all of my friends out there were able to stay safe.  We were lucky here, but I know a lot of people who read this blog were in harm's way and I hope you and your loved ones are all safe and well.

And now...

It's the (2nd Annual!) HALLOWEENSIE CONTEST!!!!!

courtesy google images

The Contest:  write a 100 word Halloween story appropriate for children (title not included in the 100 words), using the words witch, bat, and "trick-or-treat".   Your story can be scary, funny or anything in between, poetry or prose, 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 :)

Post your story on your blog today! - Wednesday October 31 - by 11:59 PM EDT and add your post-specific link to the list below.  If you don't have a blog and would like to enter, you can simply copy and paste your entry in the comments section.  Then have fun hopping around and reading all the fabulous entries!  Anyone who has trouble commenting, please email me! (susanna[at]susannhill[dot]com)  P.S.  Special Note: due to the chaos and power outages caused by Sandy, if you would like to enter but need a little more time to post, please let me know!  I will extend the deadline out to Friday if that helps anyone!

The Judge: my lovely assistant and I will narrow down the entrants to three (hee hee hee - you know how much trouble I have with only 3, so we'll see) top choices which will be posted here and voted on for a winner.  The vote will be added to Amy Dixon's guest post on Monday (because Amy needs Monday since her book is Marathon Mouse and Monday is the day after the NYC marathon (which will hopefully still be able to take place) but we also need to vote for a winner!)  Unless you all let me know by popular vote in the comments that you'd prefer a separate post on a day I usually don't post - Saturday or Sunday? or next Tuesday?

The Prize:  The winner will receive the INCREDIBLE prize of 5 (that's FIVE!) brand new picture books personalized and signed by the authors!  These 5 awesome books are: PUZZLED BY PINK by Sarah Frances Hardy, THE MONSTER WHO LOST HIS MEAN by Tiffany Strelitz Haber, THE THREE NINJA PIGS by Corey Rosen Schwartz, MARATHON MOUSE by Amy Dixon, and FLAP! by Alison Hertz.  Great to keep for your own collection or to give to little ones in your life as holiday gifts :)  The winner will also be incredibly famous and able to boast that he or she won The Halloweensie Contest... and that is not something most people can say! :)

Here is my official sample, cobbled together in the midst of Sandy.  If only she had been as benevolent as the story...

Sandy Candy

Bad weather brewed.
"Windy!" said Wanda.
"Stormy!" said Spellda.
"Halloweenie!" said baby Cauldra.
Just then the lights went out.
"Perfect!" squealed the little witches.  They grabbed their broomsticks and candy cauldrons.  "Let's trick-or-treat!"
"Sorry," said Mama Witch.  "Spook Radio just issued a Wild Weather Warning.  All broomsticks grounded.  I'm afraid we'll have to stay home."
"No candy?"  Cauldra began to cry.
"We can still have fun," said Wanda.
They played Pin-The-Bat-In-The Attic.  They sang Monster Mash and danced.  They told ghost stories by jack-o-lantern light.
The front door rattled.
Dad blew in, covered with...
"Candy!" shouted the girls.  "Happy Halloween!"
(99 words)

Here is the first sample I wrote which I'm including just for fun.  It originally had 2 other verses and totaled 176 words... too long!  This version is close though, with 116 words :)  What was I thinking?  100 words!  Ouch! :)

Topsy-Turvey Halloween

In a spooky old house perched perilously
On the creaky branch of a skeleton tree
Lived Emmeline Witch and her sisters three
But they weren't as happy as they should be.

Emmeline Witch wiped away a tear.
"I just don't get why year after year
no trick-or-treaters ever come here.
It totally spoils my Halloween cheer.

Emmeline tried to figure out why.
She puzzled and pondered, then gave a sigh.
"By Jingo, girls!  We're way too high!
The kids don't see us when they pass by!

Now Emmeline Witch and her sisters three
are the favorite stop on the Halloween spree,
the only house you'll ever see
that hangs like a bat from a skeleton tree!

So now, having comforted yourselves with how much better your stories are than these!, everyone please add your post-specific contest entry link to the list below, or paste your story into the comments!  I  CAN'T WAIT to read them!!!

Also, please let me know if you have thoughts about what day to post the vote!

Happy Halloween!!!
(Please be sure to check the comments for entries - already 6 there from Sidney, Linda, Patricia, Larissa, Adele, and Pam!)