Friends with a Werewolf- A Halloweensie Story!

Susanna Leonard Hill's 13th Annual Halloweensie contest is here! This contest challenges you to write a full story in flash form. 

Rules: Write a story for kids in 100 words or less with a Halloween theme and including the words: fright, superstition, werewolf. Enter here. 

Here's my spooky story about making new friends for 2023. Happy Halloween!

Friends with a Werewolf    (100 words)

By Lauri C. Meyers

 Mom made me invite the new kid trick-or-treating.

“Okay. But it’s weird Bobby has a beard.”

Bobby’s breath smelled like meatballs, but he sniffed out the best houses. He howled at my jokes. (I’m hilarious.) After weird Mr. Jones handed out beef jerky, Bobby traded me Snickers.

Bobby was alright…until the moon appeared. He ran off frightened!

“Guess he’s superstitious?”

Suddenly, this dog trotted up wearing Bobby’s pirate hat.

“Bobby?”

Grrrrrrrr.

Meatball breath.

The dog pounced…

… on Joey the Jerk trying to steal my candy bag! Joey ran scared!

“Not this year! I’m friends with a werewolf!”

“Right?”

Woof!

Fall Leaves & Nature's Noise

The kids are back to the crazy days of school, and we are all missing the outdoors. But my pup reminds me that fall is the perfect time for a walk in the woods... 

...which brings me to another contest!

2023’s Fall Writing Frenzy

To enter: Look through the images here and write a 200-word or less story/mood piece/poem prompted from the picture. When you're down, fill out the contest form here by midnight October 3. Follow host Kaitlyn Sanchez at @kaitlynleann17 for updates. 

And check out the prize donors online too: 

@Ms_Holliday93, @readbystephanie, @ErDiPasquale, @IvanTaurisano, @ebonylynnmudd, @AndreaYWang, @AReynosoMorris, @amandarhill32, @HovorkaSarah, @chanastiefel, @ShannonStocker_, @AutumnLeaflet, @BrianGehrlein, @JStremer, @DianaMWrites  

I love the opportunity to write a mood piece, and this image evoked a mood for me. 

7. Photo by jonas mohamadi on Pexels.com

Nature’s Noise  (149 words)

By Lauri C. Meyers

I race down the hall,

Backpack heavy
With homework to remember, books to ignore, lunch half-eaten…
 
My brain more full than my belly
From all the questions and answers
(Are you listening? Yes, Ms. Fomanti,)
The giggling girls swapping lip balm,
Rowdy boys bouncing basketballs.
The pressing, pressing, pressing of the hallway.
Chaos echoes from cement walls to laminate floor
Until I push open the door.
 
I race to the woods,
Thoughts heavy:
The cafeteria’s so loud, I used to like math, I miss Jack…
 
My worries pounding like my steps
In the leaves, crunch, crunch, crunch
Until I reach the trees, fluttering yellow hands.
A sparrow whistles a soft hello.
The crisp breeze rustles my hair, lifts the weight.
My stride softens, swish, swish, swish. 
A goose calls, reminding me to look up 
The sky is clear, and I fly
 
Racing home,
Heart soaring 
Peace, calm, nature’s noise. 

Sweater Weather is Here!

The fireplace has been crackling in the chilly mornings, because my husband is resistant to turning on the heat. Dressing requires a t-shirt plus flannel plus sweater to start the day which are removed when the sun glows bright and found again when the evening cools. My footsteps crack on acorns and shuffle in leaves.

 Ahhhh.... FALL. 

Plus there are always lovely writing prompt contests to keep my fingers warm. Here's one...

Seven Spooky Sentences hosted by Lynne Marie and Heather Macht runs 9/25-9/30. 

"What is 7 Spooky Sentences? A just-for-fun writing contest with NO judging. This is simply to get your creative juices flowing. Your entry automatically makes you eligible for some pretty spook-tacular prizes."

I really love their suggested 7-sentence plot, because it is a gateway to writing a picture book! It tricks you into thinking in just seven sentences, but voila you have the skeleton of a plot. 

Sentence One: Introduce your setting

Sentence Two: Introduce your character

Sentence Three: A story problem / goal

Sentence Four: An obstacle

Sentence Five: An active attempt to solve the story problem or achieve the story goal

Sentence Six: Introduce a failure Sentence Seven: Solve the story problem or achieve the story goal!
Here is my little story, because I love a scarecrow. *And* special thanks to my 13-year-old who has become a very helpful editor. 

Where I Write

 I'm over on the Little Thoughts Press blog this month sharing for their series "Where I Write." 

Here's the beginning... (p.s. I LOVE that the construction picture is what comes up first as if I am writing in an abandoned building with just a crayon to scrawl my whimsies on the wall.) 

A few years ago, I became very annoyed with a storage cabinet thingy in my bedroom. Perhaps because I read The Littles when I was younger, I knew this little space under the eaves could be turned into a lovely space.

I didn't want the space to feel like Harry Potter's room under the stairs, so I opened it up. I created a tornado amount of noise and dust. Continue Reading here....

Publication news & other fun!

I have had a happily busy first half of 2023. I’ve been doing so much picture book polishing that my elbows are out of grease! 

I kicked off the year with a retreat at highlights. It was snowy and magical and productive.

During poetry month, I participated in Robert Lee Brewer’s poem-a-day challenge, and I was selected for Poetry Madness. (I only made it one round but had a maddening amount of fun!)

My PB Party entry received an Honorable Mention—it was soooo close! I love that storyJ

I won a copy of Finley: A Moose on the Caboose by Candace Spirizzi and Chantelle & Burgen Thorne (It’s very cute!) and a copy of A Vaccine Is Like A Memory By Rajani La Rocca and Kathleen Marcotte. (Review coming)

In March my poem “Bloom” was published in Little Thoughts Press.

In June I happily received two acceptances: 

My YA short story “He Loves Me Not” was accepted by Ember!

My poem “Row, Row, Row Your Tub” was accepted by Highlights High Five!  

 

I have had an important learning this year…

I am more likely to get accepted when I submit things. 

It’s true! Turns out, editors are unlikely to zap themselves through the internet into your work in progress file and ask for your stories. If only someone had told me sooner. Shucks! The road to those acceptances was paved with rejections, BUT it’s just litter. You won’t die.

Summer is offering with two amazing contests for nonfiction writing.

(1) SunWriteFun--Write a non fic or info fic story under 200 on the theme Dreams by July 28

(2) Write a nonfiction picture book with Nonfiction Fest by 8/1.

 

Gotta get back to writing and revising! Happy Summer to all!

Are We There Yet #Springflingkidlit

Spring has sprung! (At least so says my tulips and the kids' Spring Break schedule.) To celebrate the season, Ciara O'Neal and Kaitlyn Sanchez are hosting the Spring Fling Kidlit challenge. Enter here. 

The basics: Choose a kid-appropriate gif to inspire a 150-word of less story for kids 12 and under. The Spring Fling contest officially begins on Saturday April 1st and closes April 3rd. 

I was inspired by this gif of a whale mom and baby migrating, a journey that starts in April.  Aww! So cute!

(Gif Link)

Are We There Yet? 

By Lauri C. Meyers

 
The ocean warms with spring.
Gulls have taken wing.
 
The current’s pull is strong
And hums migration’s song.
 
Mama whale conveys 
The change of coming days,

                “Northern waters call!”
But baby tries to stall. 

 

I like this seaweed reef 

That tickles me beneath.

 
                            “There’s a world to see!
                               Come explore with me.”
 
            I’ll miss my dolphin friends
            And how the sunlight bends.
 
                               “No matter where you roam,
                                The ocean is your home.” 
 
            How far will we go? 
                                “A thousand miles or so.”
 
            That’s too far I fear. 
                                “You’ll always have me near.”
 
            Tell me what we’ll see.
                                “Ice that’s floating free.”
 
            What’s it like at night?
                                “A dancing sky of light.”
 
            Will there be any fun? 
                                “Plankton by the ton.” 
 
            I’ll learn to fish I bet!
            Mom, are we there yet?
 
                                “Do you feel the chill?
                                  An end of journey thrill?”
 
Jump in celebration—
               I swam my first migration!

Fancy Meeting You here! #50PreciousWords

In life things aren't always exactly the way you want them. Like possibly one day your kids want to do "something fun" and you want to do "the four hundred things on your to-do list." When those situations arise, I try to find some sort of compromise. Perhaps this means the kids help move piles of rocks in the backyard and I give them wheelbarrow rides. Or we clean a closet and then play with the toys we found. 

Maybe your husband wants to "hike up the side of a mountain so we can look down at the ground below" and you want to remind him you can see the ground right here without your thighs burning. So it begrudgingly agrees to a 2 mile walk with a waterfall (because I'm a sucker for a waterfall.)

Friendship often means meeting halfway, too. This is the theme I chose for my 50 Precious Words Contest entry this year which won an HONORABLE MENTION FOR FRIENDSHIP! Yay! [Note: It's completely appropriate for you to tear up some paper and throw it in an exuberant confetti display at this point.]  And congratulations to all the contest winners!

I hope you enjoy my poem (under 50 words) ... 

*** So I fashioned this picture from clipart in Canva and I had to kind of copy and paste Ostrich's head, so I hope you don't look too closely! #notanillustrator