Highest Ranked Entries for TWILIGHT YEARS

[Deb Porter]

Hi Challengeers.

Well, it's time to give a bit of encouragement to all those who didn't quite make it to the top in the TWILIGHT YEARS OF LIFE Challenge, but still did very well.

If your entry appears on any of the lists below, then you definitely deserve a pat on the back. Well done.

Love, Deb

TOP 40 - “TWILIGHT YEARS” CHALLENGE
(Total Number of Entries: 185 )

1 The Portrait by Debbie Roome
2 Miss Stuart by Beth Muehlhausen
3 Rocking Chairs by Rachel Burkum
4 The Old Pardner by Ann Grover
5 Ornery Oscola's Fortuitous Beaner by Michele Roach
6 Broken Vows that Heaven Allows by Mariane Holbrook
7 Hush by Jan Ackerson
8 Can You Hear Me? By Yvonne Blake
9 Melville's Got Dementia by Melanie Kerr
10 The Breathing Disease by Gregory Kane
11 Fresh Bread and a Meatloaf by Leah Orcutt
12 What's Grandma Watching on TV? By Kristen Hester
13 Building Ruins by Lisa Mikitarian
14 Make Me a Blessing by Christina Banks
15 Darts by Sharon Kane
16 Golden Oaks Manor by Judy Burford
17 These Hands by Ruth Neilson
18 Snake in the Back Seat by Joy Stewart
19 This Old House by Arlene Showalter
20 Because of You by Connie Dixon
21 Two Minutes Before Dawn by Lynda Schultz
22 The Backslider by Margaret Kearley
23 Twilight? (i) by Margaret Villanueva
24 Blue and White Stripes and a Hairbrush by Anita Vander Elst
25 Testimony by Carol Slider
26 Norman by Steve Fitschen
27 Pull Down the Darkness by Donna Emery
28 Big Shoes to Fill by Linda Boulanger
29 Wormy Apples by Shirley McClay
30 I Will Not Go Quietly by Matt Zink
31 Metamorphosis by Gillian Dobson
32 Faith, Hope, and Love Under Pressure by Josiah Kane
33 I'll Be But A Moment by Loren Thomas
34 Eternal Honeymooner by Karlene Jacobsen
35 Last Look by Bryan Rudolph
36 Volunteer by Shelley Ledfors
37 Visit to the Veterans Domiciliary by Bill Hunt
38 Appalachian Beelzebub by Mona Purvis
39 The Demise of the Poisonous Frog by Sheri Gordon
40 The Finder's Keep by Sonya Leigh

TOP 15 LEVEL 1 - “TWILIGHT YEARS” CHALLENGE
(Total number of Entries for Level One: 69 )

1 Twilight? (i) by Margaret Villanueva
2 I Will Not Go Quietly by Matt Zink
3 Visit to the Veterans Domiciliary by Bill Hunt
4 In Plain Sight by Pam Vashaw
5 The Twilight Rendezvous by Maria Catterick
6 Twilight Tears by Rachel Lerch
7 The Bridge Game by Jackie Wilson
8 Many Yesterdays by Angela Allen
9 The Inexorable Passage of Time by Jacob Drollinger
10 An Unexpected Visitor by Tammy Dovichak
11 My Day by Ruth Desborough
12 True Rewards by Joanne Cordaro
13 The Things Grandpa Never told Sylvia by Ifeoma Dennis
14 Nothing More than Irritating by Jennifer Morgan
15 A Memorable Weekend by Marilyn Meiners

TOP 5 LEVEL 2 - “TWILIGHT YEARS” CHALLENGE
(Total number of Entries for Level Two: 33 )

1 Last Look by Bryan Rudolph
2 Memory Card Full by Amy Stanbury
3 The Church and the Dandelion by Pat Sipperly
4 Beyond My Factory Warranty by Sherrie Coronas
5 Remembering by Alan Zimmerman
6 A Wink and a Promise by Lisa Harris
7 Can You See? By Wendy LeBolt
8 It's Twilight Time… Or Is It? By Lisa Johnson
9 The Unexpected Summer by CJ Raney
10 Long Goodbyes by Scarlett Farr
11 Cultivating Our Heart by Allen Stark
12 The Old Woman by Vickie Buchanan
13 Wrapped in Silence by Donna Butler
14 Light Enough to See by C A Crowner
15 Brown Eyes and Candles by Rachel Phelps

TOP 15 LEVEL 3 - “TWILIGHT YEARS” CHALLENGE
(Total number of Entries for Level Three: 54 )

1 Make Me a Blessing by Christina Banks
2 Golden Oaks Manor by Judy Burford
3 Snake in the Back Seat by Joy Stewart
4 This Old House by Arlene Showalter
5 Because of You by Connie Dixon
6 The Backslider by Margaret Kearley
7 Blue and White Stripes and a Hairbrush by Anita Vander Elst
8 Norman by Steve Fitschen
9 Big Shoes to Fill by Linda Boulanger
10 Metamorphosis by Gillian Dobson
11 Faith, Hope, and Love Under Pressure by Josiah Kane
12 Eternal Honeymooner by Karlene Jacobsen
13 Appalachian Beelzebub by Mona Purvis
14 Gram Gets the Gold by Patricia Herchenroether
15 Beauty and the Beast by Robyn Burke

TOP 15 LEVEL 4 - “TWILIGHT YEARS” CHALLENGE
(Total number of Entries for Level Four: 29 )

1 The Portrait by Debbie Roome
2 Miss Stuart by Beth Muehlhausen
3 Rocking Chairs by Rachel Burkum
4 The Old Pardner by Ann Grover
5 Ornery Oscola's Fortuitous Beaner by Michele Roach
6 Broken Vows that Heaven Allows by Mariane Holbrook
7 Hush by Jan Ackerson
8 Can You Hear Me? By Yvonne Blake
9 Melville's Got Dementia by Melanie Kerr
10 The Breathing Disease by Gregory Kane
11 Fresh Bread and a Meatloaf by Leah Orcutt
12 What's Grandma Watching on TV? By Kristen Hester
13 Building Ruins by Lisa Mikitarian
14 Darts by Sharon Kane
15 These Hands by Ruth Neilson

[OldManRivers]

0 for 10

[write4christ]

... to all who made it to top 40s and top 15s of your level! You deserve a pat on the back for a work well done!

God bless!

[Kristen Hester]

Ohhhh....so close.

Good job everyone!

[Greteg]

Congratulations, Everyone! Well done!

Way to go, Miss Connie! I'm proud of you!

<>< Margaret

[dandelionflower]

Congrats to all those who made it!

Leah, earlier today I wondered why yours wasn't up in the top ten--now I know why. Like Kristen, sooooo close.

I'm praying for those who might be disappointed in where they placed or if they didn't place. The placing is truly not where the reward is. It's in the gathering of your thoughts, your worldview, your imagination and organizing it into something that can be shared with others.

[Kristen Hester]

Leah, earlier today I wondered why yours wasn't up in the top ten--now I know why. Like Kristen, sooooo close.

You, too, girlfriend. I'm sandwiched between two great writers.

[OldManRivers]

Well, it's time to give a bit of encouragement to all those who didn't quite make it to the top in the TWILIGHT YEARS OF LIFE Challenge, but still did very well.

If your entry appears on any of the lists below, then you definitely deserve a pat on the back. Well done.

Love, Deb

And what do the rest of us deserve, Deb.

[South-paw-Scribbler]

HURRAY EVERYONE! Your stories are AWESOME! :mrgreen:

[Deb Porter]

And what do the rest of us deserve, Deb.

A hearty well done for rising to the Challenge once again and honing your skills each week.

I started posting the highest rankings a couple of years ago to give encouragement to those who were so close, but didn't quite make it to the top. But of course, then there's the problem of where to make the cut off point. There are entries, like your own, that weren't that far off the top 15 for their level, or the top 40 overall. They still did well, but not quite as well as the others. So by not being included in the highest rankings, the potential is that someone may be discouraged even more.

When I see the highest rankings list discouraging even one or two, I start to wonder whether it's worth posting them at all. Sometimes it may be less painful to not know, which is why we never post the entire list (and never will). Then I see others who find great encouragement from discovering how close they came. So it's one of those things where to encourage some we may end up discouraging others. It's a hard call.

I guess I'd just keep encouraging everyone to use the Challenge as that personal challenge each week. That's what it was designed for originally, and it is still the main focus. Again, as I mentioned last quarter, Level 3 is probably one of the toughest levels of all.

The rating feedback service will be starting straight after the conference, so that may help those who are currently frustrated not knowing where their weaknesses and strengths may be.

Love, Deb

[ElizaEvans]

The placing is truly not where the reward is. It's in the gathering of your thoughts, your worldview, your imagination and organizing it into something that can be shared with others.

Thank you for saying that, Lisa. SOOOO VERY true.

As Jan says, "Placing is just gravy."

Good gravy... but still...just gravy.

[OldManRivers]

I prayerfully sense that I may be becoming a negative distraction to the ministry of this lovely website. So I give my thanks for all your grace and you all will be in my prayers. I know that I will soon be reading beautiful writings that the Lord has placed in your heart on the shelves of my local Christian bookstore.

As for myself, I will continue to minister through my own writing and publishing endeavors. The Lord has blessed me these many years and I know He will continue to do so.

His grace, peace, and joy to you and yours.

jim mcwhinnie

[South-paw-Scribbler]

As someone very wise recently said to me: Every time we enter the challenge, it is an opportunity to learn and to grow. Whether we place or not, if we exercised that creative muscle God gave to us, we will be able to return it to Him with interest.

Ok, so I deviated from the actual wording of that very wise friend. But it's true.

[violin4jesus]

Thanks, Lisa and Kristen, for your kind words! I was thinking on my way home, what if I got 11th? It seemed like I really nailed it with that entry, but no top ten this morning....

As soon as I got home, I flipped on my computer, refreshed the page, clicked on the topic, and...."AHHHHH!!!!!!!! I knew it!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Guess you had to be there....

Congrats to all who placed on the lists - it's always nice to see new people moving up and stretching their talent!

And for those who feel disappointed, know that most of us have been there too. I don't vary my style much, and I could place one week and totally miss the Top 40 the next. It really depends a lot on what others write - even if I write very well, I know that someone else could always have a better idea, or have a funnier style of writing, or whatever.

I believe that one major benefit of the Writing Challenge is that it gives us all some good practice in lifting others above one's self - celebrating their achievements from the heart. Spend a few moments encouraging someone else, and you may find that the sting of disappointment will fade away. And don't give up - next week is another chance!

[Verna]

Congratulations to all who placed, and to all who entered and didn't make it (like me), keep on keeping on.