Today's short question from a blog reader is: "Are you planning to do a Red Riding Hood creative writing contest?"

For those of you who don't know what she means by this question, I have been working with Rooglewood Press to host writing contests based on retellings of famous fairy tales. The first one, Five Glass Slippers, was hosted last year, and the five contest winners were published in one beautiful volume for your enjoyment. This year, we are hosting a contest based on "Beauty and the Beast." You can learn more about that contest on the Rooglewood Press page. Five Enchanted Roses is scheduled to release next summer.

And, on June 1, we will be announcing the third annual contest based on another famous and well-loved fairy tale. What will that fairy tale be?

Well . . . I can't tell you.

Nor can I tell you whether or not we'll end up doing "Red Riding Hood" specifically. You see, it's all part of the suspense and surprise, not knowing what's coming! It's part of the fairness as well. All of the potential contestants have six months to come up with a story based on the tale selected. If I let anyone know what the story might be in advance, that's giving an unnecessary advantage to that writer!

I will say that we are planning (as of right now) to host five of these contests. And all five fairy tales have been selected, and a certain amount of work has even been done on each of their cover designs. They are all very well-known tales and will, we at Rooglewood Press believe, make for wonderful retellings.

So sorry my answer has to be a non-answer! But I really do think you will all be happy with the tales we pick. And if you're not happy, hopefully you'll be able to come up with variations for them that will make you happy. That is, after all, half the fun . . .