Lauri Meyers .

UPDATE: Witch's Gingerbread House won an Honorable Mention for the contest as a whole. yay!! December is flying and so were the words tonight as I wrote my very last minute entry to Susanna Hill's annual holiday story contest. Children's stories must be 250 words or less and be about a HOLIDAY CONTEST. The holiday can be any winter holiday, and I enjoyed playing with what might be celebrated on winter solstice. I suppose my table having a strange stickiness remaining from making gingerbread houses a few days ago was also inspiring (and a bit gross!) Read all the fun entries in the comments on  Susanna's blog .  Happy holidays! The Witch’s Gingerbread House By Lauri Meyers (250 words) Aggie never won the Gingerbread House Contest. That witch Thelby always attracted the plumpest, cutest children for her Winter Solstice feast while Aggie sipped cold carrot stew. She needed this year’s prize. With the Electric Cauldron 3000, she’d have HOT carrot stew! She baked her

WHOOOOOOOOO .... There are witches in the air and ghosts in the trees! It's time for the annual Halloweensie contest from Susanna Hill.   This year's contest needs to be 100 words or less, about Halloween, and include: GOODIES, GOOSEBUMPS and GLOW-IN-THE-DARK.  Join in the Halloween fun! You have until Halloween night to enter.  My entry:   Glowing Ghost   (99 words) By Lauri C. Meyers   Jayden grabbed his ghostly sheet And texted: Friends said:                  His GOOSEBUMPS pricked.  It’s dark that late.   An idea struck, bring glowsticks to share! He wrapped the bracelets everywhere.   He stepped outside; still too dim. A bright solution came to him.   Headlamp on, ten flashlights to haul, Blinking lights, and a disco ball!   “But my friends might know I’m full of fright… Wait! This costume hides my lights!”   “GOODIE time!” he called. “Let’s go!” “You GLOW-IN-THE-DARK!” (Wayhomestudio via freepik) Oh no. They know.               “

Kaitlyn Sanchez ("Math is Everywhere" Blog) and Lydia Lukidis (NO BEARS ALLOWED) are hosting the annual Fall Writing Frenzy .  Fall Frenzy stories are inspired by a selection of fall images that range from from funny to spooky and must be 200 words or under, written for children (BB to YA,) posted by October 3 before midnight, and by non-agented writers only.  I hope you enjoy my cringe-worthy entry inspired by a pumpkin and my awkward adulthood. I mean adolescence. (Who am I kidding? STILL AWKWARD!)  Halloween- Credit: Samantha Hurley / Burst Sorry, Pumpkin By Lauri C. Meyers 200 words I tugged the pumpkin top, but orange fleshy strings clung to the sides, desperately trying to keep itself together. I felt like the pumpkin, as I struggled to fit in with the cool girls at Hannah Hamilton’s party. Gemma and Ari were already scooping out globs of seeds. I had to keep up. Sorry, pumpkin. I yanked the lid free, then heard a squeal. Three wet seeds stuck to Hannah’s cheeks and

I need to brag for a sec that I have been writing my fingertips off this last two months. My last post was about saying goodbye to my old writing space and embracing my new area. Grief is a strange thing. I can see now, I was grieving the changes to my writing norms. Sharing my grief helped me let go, and I have felt so FREE ! To take advantage of the momentum, I joined “Study Hall” with Marcie Colleen in May. I can’t say enough about this program. I spend a lot of time studying rhythm, but this session helped me work on my writing rhythm . In this program you share four manuscripts with a small group of writers and critique work. You get a critique from Marcie each week, too. My group shared high-quality critiques, and I am grateful for them. Every day Marcie asked us what our intention was for the day. Not a list of top 50 things on your to do list. Not your goals for publishing. Just, what is something you want to be your focus today ? Then, we could cheerlead each other as

I’ve been meaning to write this post for about a year. But… Well, I suppose writing it meant accepting a reality I wasn’t ready to embrace. Until now.  I used to write in the guest bedroom. I had a huge table to spread out all sorts of piles. I had a hutch with a rollout keyboard tray that stored mountains of binders. But more than all that, I often had a few blessed hours of peaceful quiet. When Covid hit, my husband got the guest room (you would have to call it office now as it no longer services guests) to set up shop when he started working from home. I’m not jealous or anything; he is the one supporting the family. I became a transient writer who floated from space to space trying to find comfort. I avoided the bedroom for some time, even going so far as to start a construction project to delay the inevitable.  Demolition Day!  My “Book Nook” reclaimed that hidden space in the attic of the first floor Eventually I settled in the bedroom. In October I decided I needed paper s

Ciara Oneal and Kaitlyn Sanchez are hosting a Spring Fling gif challenge: 150 words of less story for kids inspired by a gif (y'know one of those little picture video doo dads) I've been working like a dog on a home improvement project (a more physical creativity perhaps) and could use a writing exercise to keep me in shape, so here goes! Here's my gif and 150 word story.  Muddy Monster By Lauri Meyers  A muddy monster trekked inside, With dirty pies to host a feast. Showed the gift, but Mommy cried, “Get out! Get out! You vicious beast!   Mother shooed it down the hall. Confused, the creature ran away. Stopped to hear the mother call, “Where’d my darling daughter stray?”   The monster looked at slimy feet, Considered grimy dripping shirt Normal self was clean and neat- But… a bit more dirt can’t hurt.   She dug a mine for worms and gold, Cooked a pot of mud and stewed, Ignored her name while hours rolled Until her belly growled for food.   She squelched up to the door, bu

 Love is in the air (along with viruses and snow, but let's focus on the love!) With Valentine's weekend here it is time to celebrate with S usanna Hill's annual Valentiny contest .  The Contest :   since writing for children is all about “big emotion for little people” (I forget who said that, but someone did so I put it in quotes!) and Valentines Day is all about emotion, write a  Valentines story appropriate for children  (children here defined as ages 12 and under)  maximum 214 words  in which  someone feels brave ! You have until a minute-to-midnight on Valentine's Day to enter. Here is my entry in 204 words about an armadillo bravely telling his true love how he feels, sort of.  I couldn't find any armadillo clip art, so I had the *bright* idea to draw some. But all the colored pencils were trapped in rooms with zooms, and all I could find were crayons, and also I can't draw very well, and well, maybe this wasn't my brightest idea after all, though I d