Happy Columbus Day! AND Announcing The 3rd Annual Halloweensie Contest!!!

Happy Columbus Day, Everyone!

You know what Columbus Day means, don't you?  It's time for a little (twisted) history:

Four score and seven years ago... plus a couple hundred... Columbus set sail from Peppermint Bay on the Good Ship Lollypop,

searching desperately for a recipe for a perfect pie crust that would be light and flaky and never tough.  Instead, he found a brave new world.  "Woe is me!" he wailed.  "What use is a new land if I cannot bake a decent pie?"  Pocahontas led him through the wilderness to the Culinary Institute of America but he was expelled when after 6 months his pie crust still had the consistency of truck tires.  "Who cares?" he shouted maniacally as he was led away in footie pajamas.  "You guys might make better pie crust, but I've got my own holiday!  So nanny-nanny-poo-poo!"  And he was right, because lo and behold these many years later we are thankful and celebrate ole Chris because we don't have work or school on his holiday, and anyone can just buy a pie crust any old time from the frozen food section of the grocery store.

And if that is not the version you're familiar with, well, lets just say there's a reason it's called hiSTORY!

Either way, the fact that we don't have work or school means that we are here... ready... and waiting with baited breath (which, what does that mean really?  That your breath smells like bait?  Because that would be icky... but I digress...)  We are here, and ready for the announcement of.....

The 3rd Annual HALLOWEENSIE CONTEST!!!!!

That's right!  It's time!

courtesy google images

The Contest:  write a 100 word Halloween story appropriate for children (title not included in the 100 words), using the words spooky, black cat, and cackle.   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 (you can count black cat as one word) 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 over 40 fantastic entries last year so I know you can do it!)

Post your story on your blog between 12:00 AM EDT Monday October 28th and Thursday October 31st by 11:59 PM EDT and add your post-specific link to the list that will accompany my October 28th post.  There will be no Would You Read It that week, so the post and the list of links will stay up all week for everyone to enjoy.  If you don't have a blog and would like to enter, you can simply copy and paste your entry in the comments section of that post once it's up.

The Judge: my lovely assistant and I will narrow down the entrants to 3 (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 on Monday November 4th.  The winner will be announced with Would You Read It on Wednesday November 6th.  If we get more than 20 entries, I will post 6 finalists and give prizes for 1st through 3rd.

The Prize:  yeah... I'm still working on the prizes :)  Feel free to chime in the comments if there's something you'd particularly like to win! :)  But prizes will include (in some way, shape, or form) a hardcover copy of Charlotte Gunnufson's picture book Halloween Hustle and an e-pub or PDF copy (winner's choice) of Linda Ashman's new Nuts And Bolts Guide to writing picture books.  Plus whatever else I dream up in the meantime :)

So that's it!  Have a marvelous Monday, everyone, and use that Columbus Day holiday free time to get started thinking about your Halloweensie Contest entry!

Have fun! :)