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Cathy C. Hallhttps://cathychall.wordpress.com/I write, write, write. Then I rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. THEN I submit all those polished-up words out into the world and sell 'em. It's a plan that's worked pretty well.

How I Love the Smell of a Contest in October

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It was once upon a midnight dreary while I pondered weak and weary…

Ummmm. Okay, it was the middle of a sunny afternoon, just last week. And I’d just had a delightful little siesta so I wasn’t so much weak and weary as I was perky and up for a little shenanigans. Which I found in a contest over at Math is Everywhere, Kaitlyn Leann Sanchez’s home on the web.

And this contest has everything I love: prizes! A 200 word limit! Creepy picture prompts! And did I mention PRIZES?!

So today, when it was at long last a bit overcast with a slight chill in the air for about 37 minutes, the mood was right for a little Kidlit Fall Writing Frenzy. I chose this image–though if I’m being honest, it chose me–and I wrote a little 197-word story I like to call…

             Worms Crawl In

 

The  worms crawl in, the worms crawl out…

She could not get that song out of her head. What was that called again?

Oh, yes. An earworm. She smiled, holding her pumpkin. Only she could see the hole she’d carved in the back of it; only she knew that she’d scooped out its pulpy insides…

A giggle slipped away from her. Annabelle was not a bad person. Honestly, she’d been an awfully good girlfriend, always looking out for Brad. It was Annabelle who always reminded him to lock his car door, brought him special treats, helped him with his homework. She was a good listener, too, so when he’d laughingly admitted his unnatural fear of worms during Biology class, she’d remembered.

She watched as he walked toward her, his arm draped around Chloe Davenport’s shoulder.

“Happy Halloween,” said Annabelle.

Brad smiled awkwardly but he took the pumpkin. And then screamed like a banshee as the gummy worm dropped onto his shoe.

“Not funny,” said Chloe.

It was sort of funny, thought Annabelle. But the giant pumpkin full of live, slithering worms would be way funnier.

She giggled gleefully. That boy would never learn to lock his car.

**********

So if you’re up for a little creepy or Halloween cheery writing fun, join in the shenanigans before the clock strikes midnight on October 11th. Here’s all the rules and prizes. And here’s where you can officially enter.  

And here’s where you can find the rest of that mood-enhancing poem,  The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe. Because one can’t always count on 37 minutes of overcast skies with a chill in the air when you live in Georgia, even in October.  (And good luck!)

 

Boo, Y’all, It’s October!

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black-and-white-blur-close-up-237205I do not understand how it can be October already.

I mean, I understand how the days of the year work, divided into months, starting with January, then February, and so on and so on but wasn’t I just hanging out at the beach yesterday? And the week before that…wasn’t I singing for Easter? Just last month, I was thinking about what I’d like to accomplish this year around the old homestead. Now here it is October and when I took a look at that list I made (Seriously, it seemed like just last month), well…the less said about that, the better.

Okay, that’s not quite true. I had a whole lot to say about it over at The Muffin today in “The October Checklist (Or EEEKS! It’s Getting Scary Now!)”. Mostly, I shared my plan about how I deal with accomplishing a whole list of goals when there’s not much time left to do ’em.

Or technically, not accomplishing goals when time’s running out. See, I am all about prioritizing so basically, when I have a whole list of things to do, I toss anything that’s not absolutely necessary. That way, I get my taxes paid and I leave the torn wallpaper for another day. And now that I think about it, that torn wallpaper has been tossed off the list for about two years. But at least I have a house so it’s all good.

Or it will be good. ‘Cause I’m off to mail my taxes right now. I may accomplish something else today, but frankly, after the check’s in the mail, everything else is gravy. I was going to work on the kitchen wallpaper project but that ripped paper ain’t go anywhere. I, on the other hand, have a sunny day and a good scary book.

Priorities, people. Happy October!