Time for a haiku ... contest!

Many of the websites and blogs I visit feature contests. There are photo caption contests, recipe contests, My Especially Adorable Kiddo contests and My Favorite First Line From a Book contests. (Okay, there's not really a contest for submitting a favorite first line -- at least not that I've found -- but that would be a cool one, if you ask me.)

Therefore, I'd say it's high time for a contest component to be added to Grandma's Briefs.

Enter, the FRIDAY HAIKU CONTEST!

Starting today, each Friday post will feature an opportunity for one and all to enter their very own haiku and win fabulous (okay, not really all that fabulous) prizes from the Grandma's Briefs prize stash!

Why haiku? I wanted my contest to give readers an opportunity to express themselves. But I wanted them to express themselves briefly ... to go along with the Briefs part of Grandma's Briefs. Haikus were the perfect solution!

You all remember how a haiku works, right? Haikus consist of 17 syllables in three phrases of five, seven, five syllables. There's technically a whole lot more to it than that, but we'll leave the semantics to the haiku pros and work with the basics here.

So each Friday, I'll post my very own haiku on the brand-new Grandma's Briefs Friday Haiku Contest page, along with a theme word for the week. Readers are encouraged to then comment to my post with their very own haiku that includes the theme word. (Only one entry per reader please; over achievers will have to hold Haikus 2-11 for following weeks.) Readers are also welcome to comment on haikus left by their fellow commenters, so come back regularly to check out your competition.

I'll choose a winner at the end of each week and post the winning haiku on Fridays, right here for all to ooh and aah over!

And yes, there will be prizes! I'll award the weekly winner of the Friday Haiku something from my prize stash. It may be sweet, it may be silly, it may be something cool from the antique store or it may be something cheap and stupid from the Walgreen's checkout aisle. Who knows! But I'll surely award you accordingly for your creative efforts, posting a photo of the prize right alongside the winning entry of the week.

So get your creative juices flowing and head over to the Friday Haiku Contest page. Make me laugh, make me cry, make me want to give you a tchotchke!