Today, I am proud to announce the winners of the Carrot Ranch’s 2020 Writing Rodeo Event #3 which I had the honor of organizing. Ten brave cowpokes saddled up, rustled up six words from the song “Git Along Little Dogies,” and lassoed them little dogies into a unique 99-word story in the genre of their choice.
The judges struggled to pick one over another story they were so doggoned good and so different. Surprise endings, funny, murderous, you would be entertained. Each and every one of the contestants should feel proud. They flexed their writing muscles into fingers of steel.
Everyone who participated is welcomed to display this badge on their website. You earned it!
Now, for our Writing Rodeo 2020 honorable mentions:
“McCall” written by Bill Engleson
“Just a Numbers Game” written by Liz Husebye Hartmann
“Walking the Canal Path” written by Susan Spitulnik
“Remarkable Ramblin’” written by Jules Paige
And the winner is:
“New Bride in Wyoming” written by Doug Jacquier
If you’d like to read these fine works, trot on over to https://carrotranch.com where Ranch Head Ms. Charli Mills is displaying and compiling the winners of all of the Writing Rodeo events.
Again, congratulations to the winners and to everyone who entered.
And thank you to the fabulous judges,
Norah Calvin and Irene Waters!
‘It was a pleasure to judge the entries in the Rodeo Competition hosted by Marsha. Each entrant had the same set of rules by which to work and what I loved was the creativity used by each entrant and each writer’s own interpretation of how best to work within these confines. The stories were varied and enjoyable to read. I worried that it would be difficult to find a winner among the wonderful array we had but two did stand out. The winning entry still has me laughing. Congratulations to each and every one of you who entered – being taken outside our comfort zone is a great way of taking your writing to the next level. Congratulations to the winner. Your story was not only funny, it was a complete story with an extremely creative use of the words. I can’t call you by name as I had to wait like everyone else to see who it is that has won.’
Irene Waters
Marsha Ingrao - Always Write 
32 responses to “AND The 2020 Carrot Ranch Writing Rodeo’s Third Event Winner Is:”
[…] Another positive event of the month was the honor of hosting one of the Carrot Ranch Rodeo Contests. […]
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Hi Marsha
Congratulations to the winner
& to the honorable mentions; and all the participants!
I loved your phrase about the writers — “flexed their writing muscles into fingers of steel”😀
I enjoyed the challenge – always fun.
Looking forward to reading all the entries.
Thanks to Charli, all the leaders & judges for your hard work.
Saifun
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Thanks for participating, Saifun. You had a great entry. It was so hard for the judges. I enjoyed reading and not having to make the decisions! 🙂
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I’m looking forward to reading the entries when they are up!
Wowza and Congratulations to all –
Thanks to Marsha, Charli, and the Judges too!
I’m amazed I made it into an honorable mention!
~JulesPaige or just plain Jules 😉
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Congratulations, Jules. It was fun to read everyone’s entries even though I didn’t judge them. You were all so creative and the essays were so different even though we imposed the same restrictions on everyone. Thanks again for participating, Jules. 🙂
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As long as we’re all having fun that’s what matters! 😀
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Fun is key!
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Reblogged this on Norah Colvin and commented:
Pop over to Marsha’s blog to find out the winner of the third Carrot Ranch 2020 Flash Fiction Rodeo contest. You won’t find a story by me in this one as I didn’t enter. Why not? you ask.
‘Cause I was a judge.
I think you’ll agree all the writers did well to meet Marsha’s tough challenge. Congratulations to everyone who entered – especially to the winner!
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Norah and Irene are dream judges. They had such thorough discussions comparing differing merits of each like comparing apples to bananas. Somehow they came to complete agreement. Thank you Norah for judging and for the reblog. 🙂
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Thank you for inviting me, Marsha. I was surprised to find that Irene and I had pretty much agreed on the winner without any consultation. I was expecting we’d choose different ones and have to convince each other. It turned out pretty well, I think.
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It was a pleasure, though difficult, to join with you and Irene in judging these clever stories, Marsha. It was a good thing we judges were able to agree on winning entries. Congratulations to everyone who entered. It was quite a challenge! Congratulations especially to Doug for his story that had us laughing out loud. Funny thing is, both Irene and I are Aussies. We had no idea who had written any of the stories but managed to pick an Aussie as the winner. Howzat!
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Again, thanks, Norah and Irene. So far I don’t think anyone’s picked up on the secret Aussie code in my submission (nudge, nudge, wink, wink). 🙂
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LOL!
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Not even me! 😂
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Congratulations everyone. Off to read the doggerel 😉 (I’m sure it won’t be.)
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Thanks, Anne for reading and commenting. I thought I’d better look up doggerel, since it’s a word I don’t use often. doggerel. After reading the definition, I’m assured that no doggerel surfaced in Rodeo #3.
[ˈdôɡərəl]
NOUN
comic verse composed in irregular rhythm.
synonyms:
poetry · versification · metrical composition · rhythmical composition · rhyme · rhyming · balladry · poems · lyrics · rhymes · poesy · Parnassus
verse or words that are badly written or expressed.
“the last stanza deteriorates into doggerel”
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Many thanks to you, Marsha, and judges Norah and Irene, and of course the Grand Imagineer, Charli. Just tried following the link to read the other winners’ work but it doesn’t seem to lead anywhere but the CR main page.
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Congratulations Doug!
https://carrotranch.com/rodeo-contests/2020-rodeo/ is where the writin’ should be on the wall – but it ain’t up yit! I suspect it will be soon. I look forward to reading your entry.
~JulesPaige (Jules)
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Absolutely correct. Thanks, Jules.
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Thanks for sharing the link, Jules. I didn’t see the entries posted yet, but I’m sure they will be up soon. 🙂
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The thanks goes to you, Doug for participating. It was a great experience for me. Your entry was so fun and I loved the humorous twist at the end.
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[…] Masha Ingrao announces the winners of the third Flash Fiction Rodeo and Carrot Ranch trips over the reblog! Go here to read the full details: https://tchistorygal.net/2020/11/17/and-the-2020-carrot-ranch-writing-rodeos-third-event-winner-is/ […]
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Woot! Thanks for putting together the event. It was fun to stretch my brain in a new direction!
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You are more than welcome, Liz. Thanks for participating. I enjoyed your essay. It felt almost like we could have been listening in on a real conversation. 🙂
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Yeehaw, you did it, Marsha! Thank you for a fun contest and excellent judges. Congratulations to Doug for winning top prize and to Liz, Bill, Jules, and Susan for honorable mentions!
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Thanks, Charli. With your leadership and the help of the entire team including my two fabulous judges, Norah Calvin and Irene Waters, we had a great time. Our contestants did a fabulous job of writing to the prompt and turning out such imaginative essays. I loved it. Thanks for inviting me to take part in this. I’ve been honored. 🙂
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Lots of creative fun…a joy to participate…
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Thanks, Bill. Your character made some important changes and caused a great deal of dialogue between the judges. Congratulations! Well done. Thanks for participating, and it has been great to get to know you. 🙂
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Many congratulations to all the winners.
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Yes, and thanks for entering, Hugh. I loved the surprise ending. I was sure that Jean was a little person. 🙂
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Congratulations to the winners. I’m off to check them out now!
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Thanks, Donna, it was hard for the judges. Which is your fav?
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