Freestyle Writing Challenge: Halloween in 10 Minutes

Big thank you to Sandi at Flip Flops Everyday for nominating me for this fun challenge! Go check out her hilarious blog!

Recently I’ve been declining awards because they’ve gotten repetitive, but this one was a challenge. And I like challenges.

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Here are the rules. This might be the most comprehensive list of rules I’ve ever seen. I’ll highlight the important words.

1. Open an MS Word document. 
2. Set a stop watch or your mobile to 5 minutes or 10 minutes whichever challenge you think you can beat.
3. Your topic is at the foot of this post BUT DO NOT SCROLL DOWN TO SEE IT UNTIL YOU ARE READY WITH A TIMER.
4. Fill the word doc with as many words as you can in the time limit. Once you began writing do not stop even to turn.
5. Do not cheat by going back and correcting spellings and grammar with spell check in MS WORD (it is only meant for you to reflect on your own control of sensible thought flow and for you to reflect on your ability to write the right spelling and stick to grammar rules)
6. You may or may not pay attention to punctuation and CAPITALS. However if you do, it would be best.
7. At the end of your post write down ‘No. Of words =_____’ so that we would have an idea of how much you can write within the time frame.
8. Do not forget to copy & paste the entire passage on your blog post with a new Topic for your nominees (at least 5) and copy & paste these rules with your nominations.

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The topic Sandi assigned to me was HALLOWEEN. I decided to do the 10 minute challenge.

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Pumpkins. Pumpkins everywhere.

I was never big on Halloween. I wasn’t into getting dressed up in a costume and all that jazz. I remember when I was really little I was Barney one year and an M&M another year. A red M&M, to be exact. It was a really fat costume. I looked like a stop sign on a diet.

Then I transitioned into the cop-out costumes. I think I was a “hockey fan/player” for about three years and then I was the Scream for three more years. I didn’t even know what Scream was until last year.

Look at me, I’m a loser!

And when I wore the Scream costume, I didn’t even wear the mask. It smelled like it hadn’t seen daylight in 365 days. It also smelled like a Halloween costume store. You all know the smell.

All I wore was the Scream cape. Just a black cape. I remember going to one house and the person said, “Gee, I guess kids don’t even have to get dressed up these days to go trick or treating.”

Sorry, sir. My cape was black, it was nighttime, you couldn’t see it. Give me my candy.

Another year, I was dead set on being a scoreboard. Got a piece of cardboard and had a family member paint team names, the score, the clock, and anything else that went on a scoreboard. Then I tied string to it and was going to wear it around my neck in a “Boy For Sale” kind of fashion.

Then Halloween arrived and I chickened out. I didn’t want to wear it to school for fear of looking like an idiot. So I wore my trusty Scream cape again. Thank you, Scream.

As far as the night of Halloween, the weather was always poor. My Mom always had me put a jacket on over my costume. “Hey look at me, I’m a cold child living in Canada!” That’s a pretty convincing costume, I think.

I’ve never been a big candy person. Yeah, I can hear all of you gasping from here. Candy has never excited me.

Half of the stuff I got from trick-or-treating was stuff that went in the garbage or went to my parents. All I wanted was the bags of chips, packs of smarties, and aero bars. Everything else, I didn’t care for.

Anything that was on a stick – nope. Anything with caramel – nope. Rockets – nope. I was basically an old man sifting through candy, saying no to anything that seemed too wild.

Look at me, I’m a loser!

Some houses gave out pencils. What’s up with that? They weren’t even sharpened. So they gave me an unusable pencil. What if I had to use it right then and there? I couldn’t. They didn’t give me a pencil sharpener. Jerks.

My house doesn’t get many trick-or-treaters on Halloween anymore. We used to get close to 100. Now we’re lucky if we break double digits. We always take bets on how many kids we’re going to get. It’s as if we’re picking lottery numbers.

By the way, never ask a kid for a trick. No kid gives tricks. They just want treats. Don’t put the kid on the spot. Just hand them the candy and close your door. I always hated the houses that requested a trick.

Number of words: 552

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My topic for the following nominees is FOOD.

Cat, Like Meow

Tori Story

Fit For The Road

Alyssa Hoy

Tales From A Cycle Path

Go check out their great blogs, or no one gets any pizza. That’s the ultimatum.