Holiday Writing Contest!

Submitting a last-minute entry into Susanna Hill's Holiday Writing Contest. Thanks for the opportunity Susanna!  See all the entries HERE.

GINGERBREAD HOUSES HAVE MAGIC
By Debbie
250 Words 

It’s the last day of school before Christmas break.

Everyone in my class is talking, laughing…

If only I had someone to build my gingerbread house with.

I don’t really have friends but I’m sort of used to it.

Ms. Wilkinson helps me glue graham crackers together.

“Gingerbread houses have magic,” she says.

If you leave them out, elves may visit.”

I laugh, but I wonder if she’s right.

I work hard on my house.

Licorice and fruit rings for the roof.

Candy canes for a heart door.

After school, I want to show my mom,

but she isn’t home,

so I set it on the porch.

I watch out the window a long time, but nothing happens,

so I go to bed.

In the middle of the night, I wake up and look outside.

My house is gone!

I step out to investigate.

My breath blows a white cloud.

It’s quiet.

Across the street, I see a light in the woods.

I walk closer.

No way. My house! Big enough for ME to fit inside!

I open the heart-shaped candy cane door.

“Welcome!” says a sparkly elf.

She gives me a hug.

“Have some hot chocolate,” says another.

“Is this real?” I ask.

“Just for tonight. But you get one Christmas wish before you go.”

All night, the elves tell me stories.

I laugh, sip cocoa, and think about my wish.

Before I leave, I finally decide:

“I wish I could feel this way always - like I belong.” 

2019 Halloweensie Contest!!

It's that time of year again! Susanna Leonard Hill's 9th annual Halloweensie contest is upon us and I'm so excited to join the fun.

This year's rules are as follows: Write a 100 word Halloween story appropriate for children (children here defined as 12 and under) (title not included in the 100 words), using the words potion, cobweb, and trick.

To see all the entries and read the judging criteria, you can go to Susanna's blog right here. Thank you so much for this fun writing opportunity that I've come to look forward to every year!

And now for my entry. Thanks for reading!

GLOONA THE GRINCHY WITCH

By Debbie - 100 words

Gloona the witch was a ghastly old soul-

more greed than a dragon, more warts than a troll.

On Halloween evening, she mixed up a brew

with lizard tail, bedbugs, and pickled worm goo.

From out of her potion, a ghoulish mist crept.

It oozed through the streets until everyone slept.

Beaming with glee, Gloona flew out unseen.

She swept through the city and stole Halloween.

She took every cobweb, each pumpkin and light,

the scarecrows, the sweets, the decor made of fright,

and inside her cottage, she laughed with conceit.

That is, ‘til she heard, “Ring-a-ding. Trick or treat!”

Checking in

Hi friends!
I know it's been awhile. I've been crazy busy this last year. Living in a foreign country with little ones while your husband travels most the time is no joke!
However...I wanted to check in quick and mention a few things!
First of all, I started a new project writing a new poetry now that my kids are in school (time to write, hooray!) You can find the site on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Debspoetrycorner
So that's been fun and motivating! I hope you'll read a few now and then.
Also, I just registered for a cool picture book opportunity I wanted to share with any pb writers out there. It's called #PBCritiqueFest hosted by Brian Gehrlein at Picture Book Spotlight. Register for a chance to win a pb critique by some pretty impressive kidlit folks at https://www.pbspotlight.com/pbcritiquefest
I hope to check in again soon! But if you don't hear for me in awhile, find me on twitter (@deborah_writing) and FB where I'm a little more active these days! :)

50 Precious Words Contest

It's time for Vivian Kirkfield's 50 Precious Words Writing Contest! Can you write a story for kids in 50 words or less? Give it a try! Click here to read all the rules and make your own entry. The contest ends March 6th. Good luck, All! Here's what I got this year: 

DOWN THE SPIDER HOLE

By Debbie Day

48 words

Kat the rat

swings her bat.

It’s a fly!

Wait - oh my.

Where’d it roll?

Down THAT hole?

Creepy, steep.

Dark and deep.

Now she spies

SEVERAL eyes.

Kat’s worst fear

inching near.

Creepy crawl.

There’s the….BALL?

“Here you go!”

“Really? Whoa.

…Want to play?”

“Hmmm. Okay!”

Calling picture book writers! Upcoming contests and events...

Hey all you writers, I want to tell you about another fun contest coming up on March 2nd run by Vivian Kirkfield. Think you can write a book for kids in 50 words or less? Sounds easy right? Well just try it and see how hard it actually can be! These little challenges are just pure fun for me and I hope you will join me in giving it a try. You have a couple weeks to think of the perfect story. All the rules for the contest can be found here: https://viviankirkfield.com/2019/02/08/perfect-picture-book-friday-pippas-passover-plate-and-a-peek-at-the-50preciouswords-contest/

I also just discovered something called Writeoncon. It's the cheapest (yet still high quality) online writing conference for kidlit writers I've seen yet. The 2019 conference just passed, but you can still buy the content for another month. I went ahead and did it - for 15 bucks? Why not!

One more thing to make picture book writers aware of, if you don't know about it already, there are various pitch parties on Twitter. #PBpitch is specifically for picture book writers and it's coming up in just a few days (February 21st) so look it up, see what it's about (Psst. It's a short cut for getting agents to notice your picture book pitches), and participate!

Lots of fun writing events going on this month, hope to see you there!

P.S. Yay for finishing this year's Storystorm! 
 

More soon.

Short and Sweet Update for a New Year

I thought it was a good idea to write a quick update on the exciting changes that have taken place the last few months.

First of all, my husband got his job assignment and now here we are in...Germany! We've been here about four months already (wow did that time go fast!) It's been a crazy, hard, amazing, and fun adventure so far.

Second of all, we had our baby #4! She came at the beginning of November and is already two months old (Wow that went by even faster!) We are so happy to have her here safe and sound, and boy is she a cutie!

As far as writing goes....As you can guess, I've had  a lot less free time with all that's been going on, but I'm trying to make time when I can because writing truly fills my happiness cup. Here's a few updates:

• Out of 237 entries, my story BROKEN-DOWN broom from my previous post got 7th place in Susanna Hill's Halloweensie contest, so that was fun! 
• I'm participating in Tara Lazar's STORY STORM again this year. It's the best writing inspiration activity I've found yet. If you're struggling to come up with new picture book ideas, you should definitely check it out!
• With a new year ahead, I've made new writing goals. This year, I plan to query five agents a month, with a total of 60 this year. I also have several specific manuscript drafts that I plan on finishing up and getting ready to submit. I'm going to get it done in 2019!!
• I'm applying to Tara Luebbe's 2019 Writing with the Stars mentoring program. There are some pretty amazing authors this year. The contest is open until January 13th if you want to check it out!

Stay tuned for more soon!