Lauri Meyers .

Forget the trick-or-treating and candy and costumes and watching your jack-o-lantern slowly collapse into a gooey mess... Halloween means it's Halloweensie time!  This is my 11th year writing for this contest, and thanks to Susanna Leonard Hill it just gets more fun every year. If you want to play along, the rules are to write a story or poem for kids in 100 words or under about Halloween with this year's contest words (treat, slither, scare.) Entries must be posted in the comments of the contest blog post .  After we decorated the house for Halloween this year, I noticed the dog looking at the decorations (and us) like we were very weird. That inspired this story about the surprise the creatures of the house might feel when they creep out at night.  Here is my entry:  The House Creatures’ Halloween (100 words)   By Lauri C. Meyers   When night falls, the house creatures wake. But things look spookier. Mouse snuffles for crumbs, but… “Squeak!...

 One of the most beautiful parts of writing Kidlit is critiquing.      "Um, hearing why your story sucks doesn't sound beautiful," you say.  But that feedback, no matter how devastatingly true, even if it causes you to painfully rewrite a rhyming stanza or throw a character off a plane without a parachute, is critical to getting your story read.  And that's what we all want...our lovely story babies in the hands of others as smiles spread on their faces at the fun in our words.      "Remember that time they suggested your story about a tree was actually about the process of grieving and then you cried for like two days?" you say like a wickedly popular 17-year-old. That was amazing. A critique partner able to identify an emotion I didn't even realize I had infused into that story. Understanding my story's layers made writing a query letter easier too. The flipside is also true, a critiquer (just like any reader) may see a meaning be...

Well, my Spring was wild with school activities, my Summer frolicked with fun, and I've rolled right into back to school! Fall is always a productive season with lots of revisions to chew on and many contests to inspire new pieces.  One of those contests is Fall Frenzy hosted by Lydia Lukidis and Kaitlyn Sanchez. To join in, just pick one of the images from Lydia's site for inspiration and write a story in 200 words or less.  This picture gave me all the feels and inspired a little 200 word ditty about Cowboy Bob.  Halloween- Credit: Brian Wangenheim for Unsplash Cowboy Bob's Candy By Lauri C. Meyers Cowboy Bob hugged his candy. “I’m not sharing my sweet vittles with those rascally trick-or-treaters this year!”    “I’ll hand out beans!” Cowboy Bob laughed. But he loved his beans. “I’ll fill their bags with oats!” Cowboy Bob hop-skipped. But Horsiepoo needed her feed. Cowboy Bob slapped his knee. “I’ve got a gravy idea!” He got busy lickety-split spook...