Who Won Witchy’s “How Does It Feel To Be a Tube of Lipstick” Contest?
So many great entries … let’s see the results!
Wanna hear my conversation with Witchy? You can listen here (transcript below):
This morning, Witchy came twirling into my cottage wearing a huge smile. “I did it! I did it!” she squealed.
“Hi, Witchy! You seem to have plenty of your usual verve today!”
She skidded to a stop and stared at me, blinking.
“My usual what?”
“Verve.”
More blinking.
“Um…I did not bring anything with me. Is there something stuck on the back of my dress?” She cranked her head over her shoulder, attempting to take a look while turning her back to me.
I stifled a giggle. “No, darling, there’s nothing stuck on your dress. I just mean, you’re your usual exuberant self — happy and twirly. You know, that stuff.”
“Then why did you not say that?”
“I did, Witchy. I just used a word that I guess was new to you.”
“English is so dumb. I will never get it.”
“Oh, yes, you will. You do very well with it, you know.”
“Thank you, although I am not so sure that I agree with you.”
“That’s okay, Witchy. We don’t always have to agree. Besides, I understand that it’s been hard to move to a strange, new place and learn a whole different way of life. Even if you don’t feel like you’re doing a great job of it, I can see tremendous progress since we first met.”
“You can?”
“Yes! Of course I can! Gosh, you couldn’t even speak English at all back then and look how far you’ve come! That’s why I believe you’ll continue to learn even more.”
“Hmm. Perhaps you are right.”
“I don’t want to be right, Witchy. I just want you to notice how well you’re doing and to have faith in yourself about continuing on your journey of learning a new way of being. Be gentle with yourself, Precious. You can’t learn it all at once. I’m pretty sure we’ve had that conversation before…” I smiled and winked at my little blue friend.
She rolled her eyes and smiled back. “I know.”
“So, what was it you did?”
“About what?”
“I don’t know. You came spinning in here a few minutes ago saying, ‘I did it! I did it!’ So I’m guessing you had something to tell me?”
“Oh! Yes! That! Yes, I do have something to tell you. Oh, boy, it was so hard! But I found a winner for my lipstick contest!”
“Oh, Witchy, that’s wonderful! Yeah, I can imagine how hard that was. Those entries were so good!”
“I know. We have such great writers in our Pub Family and oh, boy, did they ever pull out all the starts for this contest!”
“Pull out all the starts?”
“Yes. They did an excellent job.”
“Oh. You mean, they pulled out all the stops.”
“Starts. Stops. Whatever. That thing. Yes. Their stories were so good!”
“Oh, gosh, yes, Witchy, they were well-written, and incredibly creative! There was such a range of ideas, I was completely amazed!”
“I especially loved the ones about their real lipsticks.”
“What do you mean, their real lipsticks?”
“The ones that told actual stories about their actual lipsticks. Like what happened to Grace’s poor lipstick! Or Chantal’s lipstick — oh, gosh, it must have been a very old one to have been in that 1912 parade! Do you suppose it is in a nursing home? We did not have nursing homes in the Magical Blue Tree Forest. I wonder if there are nursing homes for lipsticks.”
“I rather doubt it.”
Wearing a look of deep concern, Witchy gasped. “Then where do they live?”
“I’m pretty sure they stay with the women who buy them.”
“Oh, that is good! TzeLin Sam, Trisha Faye, Sheri Jacobs and others, they all wrote such interesting stories about their lipsticks! I know you have lots of lipsticks, Liberty. What stories do they tell you?”
“Uh…so far, um, none.”
“None?”
“Yeah, they’re pretty quiet. Anyway, Witchy, who’s the winner? I’m excited to hear!”
“Well, first, I have to say that I really could not even pick out just a few for honourable mention. They were all so good!”
“Fair enough. I agree, with such a range of great stories, that would be hard. I can’t stand it anymore, Witchy! Who won?”
“It was someone who went a little crazy.”
“Well, that’s my happy place.”
Witchy threw a puzzled expression in my direction for a moment. I grinned in response.
“The winner wrote three lipstick stories, Liberty! Three! And all so different from one another! And the last one was about an actual lipstick that was writing to me from the year 1770! It wanted me to go back to that time and fix a big problem! I thought about trying a time travel spell, but — ”
“Oh, please tell me you won’t dare attempt to go there!” I interrupted, remembering the disastrous effects of her spells since they started “going wonky,” as she puts it. Biggest understatement ever…
“No. No, I promise I will not do that,” she sighed heavily, shoulders drooping. “I hope that poor lipstick will not be mad at me. Anyway, the person who wrote the three stories is Sam Letterwood! I was so surprised that he did that, and they were all so interesting! One of the lipsticks even helped the LAPD solve a crime!”
“I know! I loved his stories, too. Well, I’ll offer my hearty congratulations to Sam and because you weren’t able to narrow the others down to a very short list of honourable mentions, I’ll make sure to put all of them in the post, okay?”
“Oh, yes, please! Thank you for your help with that.”
“You’re most welcome. Are you going to come up with another contest idea for February?”
“Hmm. That is a good question! I will go and be thinky for a while and see what happens!”
And with that, she twirled her way out of my cottage and down the path to the woods.
Here are all the contest entries, beginning with Sam’s three:
Great writing with Grace Delphia’s story! I was drawn into this story from the first word to the last and I felt so sorry for this poor little lipstick!
Lisa Precious / Smiley Blue wrote a sweet story that proves how wrong we can be when we make assumptions:
The lipstick in Cristina Cattai’s story wants women to see their inner beauty and to help them believe in themselves:
Chantal Christie Weiss’s lipstick was at the famous 1912 New York parade in support of women’s voting rights. Florence Nightingale Graham, who was known in business as Elizabeth Arden, marched with 15,000 suffragettes, handing out red lipstick as a symbol of solidarity:
TzeLin Sam’s story is both sad and adorably funny as her poor little lipstick has a miserable job with an even more miserable future — and there’s a hilarious twist at the end that had me laughing for ages after reading!
Sharon Johnson makes a powerful point that all “mature women” should remember:
Lynn L. Alexander’s story is loaded with great plays on words along with some great messages and a heartfelt tale of Life as a Lipstick!
Trisha Faye’s lipstick discovered that things are not always what they seem in this beautifully well-written story:
Sheri Jacobs’ lipstick tells us an inspiring and seductive story that really packs a punch! More great writing!
Christina’s story makes us think about just how important lipstick really is!
Tagging our beloved Pub Family so you can support these beautiful souls who dared step well outside their comfort zones to produce such creative and wonderful stories!
Kris Bedenian Rodney Brazier Patti Murray Voncannon Carrie Kolar Croix Sather Deb Fiore Dina Alexander DL Nemeril Donnette Anglin Loren Lieberthal Jimmy Misner Jr. Judy Millar Julie Gaeta Pene Hodge Karen Schwartz James Knight Dr. Preeti Singh Radhika Iyer Sam Branstner Umme Salma Tamil T Mann Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles Lion~ Wendy S. Bradfield Yana Bostongirl Jo An Fox-Wright Maddox Suma Narayan Penny Walsh Shameem Anwar Irene Fassler Sandy Peckinpah Trista Signe Ainsworth Slow train Ashley Nicole B.R. Shenoy Carolyn Hastings Christina Christine Vann, MSc. Ellie Jacobson Isabel Young Kaz Rochford Nia Simone McLeod Nicole Hilbig Patricia Wright Pam Winter Jodian Marie Thomas, MS, Bsc, Asc L Burton Danielle Hestand Sahil Patel Malky McEwan Barbara Cook Tyra Jaide Eko BP Drashti Shroff Evergreen Eden Bernie Pullen Rhea Anglesey CARMEN F MICSA Robin Oakman Mary Vraa Libby Shively McAvoy Kristina God Niall Leah Debbra Lupien, Voice of the Akashic Records Toya Qualls-Barnette Vashni Stories Dawn :) Divya Goswami BichoDoMato Evon Carole Olsen Sharon Sayler, Author Jennifer Dunne Kylie van Gelder Neha Sonney, Author Christina Sponias Ian Hanson JF Danskin Patrick OConnell Mary V Elvie Lins❤️ Carmellita Gauri Sirur Kristie Leong M.D. IJaveria Ansari Asim Nori Dipo Adebayo Andreia Damian Jenine Bsharah Baines Jodi Marie Mahein Kazi Mario López-Goicoechea Raine Lore Vishal Mehta Aarti Tailor A Rustic Mind (Manali Desai) Mona S Gable Anne Emerick Andra Forbes Anaya Nosso Kasturi Patra Mary B Mel Janecka Rebecca Romanelli Life not abrupt (L.n.a.) Rebecka Rose Hollie Petit, Ph.D. Michael Mallen Gauri Sirur Raine Lore Penny Walsh CARMEN F MICSA, MA in English, podcaster Mary V Marilyn Flower Srini James Beaufait Joe Merkle Rupa Mahanti Binky Ink Writing Trisha Faye John Antony Mario López-Goicoechea Sherry Atkinson Seda Anbarcı Ella de Jong Katherine Myrestad HAPPINESS + WEALTH ⭐ Nathan Chen Zeenat Merchant Syal, M.A, M.Sc Ben Ulansey Brandon Kam Victoria Kjos J Oliver Dempsey Binky Ink Writing Karen Schwartz AJ Carrie Kolar TzeLin Sam Sally Prag Jenine “Jeni” Baines Vera-Marie Landi Alan (AJ) Autistic Widower Rebecca A Emrich Grace Delphia Simply Sophia Sheri Jacobs Ella de Jong Tamara Embrey Trisha Faye Carolina Smith Janet Meisel Elena dL Daniel Ng JonesPJ Nathan Chen Amir Bibi Rick Allen Helen Gilmore Marcus aka Gregory Maidman OCTAVIA EVER AFTER Qaiser Khan Benighted Sharon Johnson Julie KingGood Nina Sklansky Debbie Soderberg Kirchner Jolka Maria Rattray Shereen Bingham Kyle Wells Cristina Cattai Charisse Tyson Sam Letterwood Sara Fellers Mehak Adlakha Lisa Precious / Smiley Blue Kumar Devesh Chantal Christie Weiss Hisho Sam David Parker🌸 Robyne Sautner Mike Sansone Darlene López Kimberley Abraham Tamara Low Lynn L. Alexander Ahilya B Michelle Lovett, LCSW, E-RYT Mark Tulin Robin Klammer