Well, the holidays are definitely upon us. The candles are lit, the eggnog is flowing, and Writing magazine's student writing contest's deadline has come and gone. Time's up, my friends! I hope you got your entry in!

We got so many contest entries this year! Guess how many? Go ahead and guess! Nope, too low. Guess again. What?!? 15,000?!? Are you nuts? That's way too high, guess again! Did you say 1,400? Bingo!

A little while ago, I found myself in R.L. Stine's living room. A friend of mine who's a friend of his extended an impromptu invitation to me. Talk about six degrees of separation!

R.L. Stine was wearing a guitar-printed shirt and looked relaxed. He welcomed me into his apartment, and introduced me to his wife, Jane and his dog Nadine.

Stine is a prolific author who tells great scary stories. In person, he's a good storyteller too.

He told me that the Weekly Reader was the first magazine he ever read. "When I was a kid, they used to print the Weekly Reader in Columbus, OH. Every year, our school would take us on a school trip to the Weekly Reader publishing plant. There we would watch how the papers were printed."

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you will join us
And the world will live as one

25 years ago today, December 8, 1980, John Lennon was shot and killed by a crazed fan in front of his New York City home, The Dakota. At the time, I was three. I do not remember the tragedy.

As I grew older, I started to hear about this band called The Beatles.I heard my mom talking from time to time about these four lads from Liverpool, England who, in the 1960's (an ancient time that meant absolutely nothing to me) made such fantastic music that it left girls screaming and swooning, gave even the shyest boy the courage to sing along, and drove the world into a crazy frenzy that could only be described in one word: Beatlemania.