Holy moly. Hi.

Sixty-two blogs. Sixty-three if you count my guest post at Greta’s which was on the grid until it was time to vote. That’s a whole lotta visitin’ and readin’ and thanks to everyone who made it through to the other side still looking forward to next week.

Virgins!

There were seven newbies on the grid this week, and what an introduction, eh? I’m just glad we didn’t accidentally kill any of you. Don’t worry if you didn’t complete the rounds by visiting most of the other blogs; I’ve got a few long-time linkers who still call it a day after visiting only one or two. When you come back next week, you can work your way up to half. By the time we go back to closing the grid to submissions at 50, you’ll be an old pro.

Erica’s editor’s choice

Katie of Chicken Noodle Gravy hit the yeah write scene a few weeks ago, and has been one of our most enthusiastic supporters. Even when I’m being an explanatory crank about writing style and the yeah write way, Katie seems to absorb it all, ready to learn.

I cried when I read her winning post about holding her grandfather’s funeral a second time because her grandmother with Alzheimer’s couldn’t remember the first one held 12 years earlier. I started narrowing down my favorites among the other 61 entries and when I went back to reread Katie’s, I cried again. Checking for comment karma, not even reading her post? Cried some more. She was clear and present in her narrative, breathing life into each character on the page. Congrats, Katie, on the win. 

Flood’s lurker’s favorite

Bridget’s at Twinisms story of a dinner party gone terribly wrong wins Flood’s favorite. Flood explains her choice:

[frame_box]…this one has enough action to be a short film. From sweatpants to firefighters, Bridget weaves a tale of a dinner party gone awry, and it’s not even the children’s fault. Everyone survived, and now they have a decent marker for future get-togethers: “But at least we didn’t almost die.”[/frame_box]

Congrats, Bridget, on the win.

Q’s lurker’s favorite

Although Q disagrees with the title, in that he believes there can never be too many penises, Q chose Andi’s at Lifetime Travels experience with a 4-year-old at a Roman art museum exhibit, where Andi’s daughter exclaims there are too many penises on display for her liking. Q liked Andi’s narrative style of stories within a story and he liked how she handled her daughter’s concerns with humor and grace. Congrats, Andi, on the win.

Popular vote winner

Katie of Chicken Noodle Gravy wins here, too. It’s very well-deserved, Katie. Congrats again.

Comment karma

Raise your hand if your post got a thoughtful and encouraging comment from Kristin of That Unique Weblog. That should be 63 hands in the air, including my own. Kristin was on a mission this week. I got an email, comment or tweet—I can’t remember which, this week was a blur—from her saying she’s figured out the method to hitting every blog on the grid, and she meant it. She’s probably taking a nap now, so we’ll give her her badge when she checks in.

Random drawing winner for the Elegant Themes blog template

Remember, winner, you are in charge of your own installation, any related costs and any crises that may arise once it’s installed. That’s my legal disclaimer. However, the support community at the WordPress codex is always willing to help with any questions in the support forum. Having said all that, the winner of the install-yourself .zip file is Jamie from Chosen Chaos. Good thing, too. Jamie is already familiar with the 2 am emergency support forum session. Email me your choice, Jamie. Congrats.

Superfecta challenge points

Four eventual winners, four current leaders:

Katie at Chicken Noodle Gravy [38.4]

Kristin at That Unique Weblog  [38]

Andi at Once in a Lifetime Travel [37]

Stacey at Confessions of a Super Mommy [35.8]

Important note: Kristin’s comment karma doesn’t count towards points in this challenge, however, since she won a judges’ favorite last week, she is 2 for 5 in the superfecta plus one. Meaning, if she links up in each of the next three weeks and wins the other remaining badges, she wins the complete blog makeover. That’s a standing offer, open to anyone who links up. Five weeks in a row, one win of each of the badges, blog makeover. You can do it. 

The full spreadsheet with everyone’s point totals is here and available for download.

Win-win

The thumbnails are now sorted in the grid from most yellow star votes to the least. In the case of a tie, like if four blogs all got seven votes each, the thumbnails are additionally sorted by page views. Do not be discouraged if your blog has landed near the bottom of the grid; it is always a tight race. The fun lies in getting better exposure for your blog and in the spirit of competition as incentive to improve your writing and blogging skills. It’s a win-win for everybody involved.

Thanks again, everybody, for linking up, for reading, for voting. And for making yeah write the most welcoming spot on the Interwebs for writers who blog and bloggers who write.

Oh, my birthday!

And thanks for all the wonderful well-wishes yesterday for my birthday during yeah write voting. I was overwhelmed by y’all’s generosity: tweets, Facebook messages, a happy dance .gif (!) and digital loot. I felt sweet sixteen all over again, but this time with a mortgage and utilities and three kids.

Yeah write #48 opens Tuesday.