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We are quickly approaching the first anniversary of the week this writers’ linkup appeared in its original form on my personal blog at free fringes.

In that spirit and, as I continue to help Alison and Ado celebrate their first blogoversaries, I’m introducing yeah write #50 with the explanatory post from free fringes on why I started this whole thing. Don’t be shocked by the profanity and gutter analogies: my mouth is at its most pottiest when I am amongst the people I love who aren’t sticks in the mud.

From April 2011:

Apparently, people are mean to each other on the Interwebs.

Apparently.

I actually have no such concept.

Mainly because I’ve always been that person who leaves the room during an argument. Who ignores office gossip. Who shuts down my teenage daughter’s conversation at the first whiff of high school drama. It’s not my style, so you know what happens?

An alliance gets formed without me and I’m kicked off the island even though I was the cute girl who won all her challenges naked.

Or something like that.

I’ve had three trolls in all my years of blogging. One I emailed and told her to stop attacking my commenters and guest bloggers and, uh, to fuck off. The second one got bored after yelling at me that I was wasting my space with frivolities instead of saving the world with my 10 readers.

The third one, poor guy, never got the hint. After trying to warn him away in comments, Q and his friends started a blog as though it was written from the troll’s perspective called “Free Speech” and would write the silliest posts attacking normal people then end each post with “free speech!” like the guy did on my blog in his comments. I finally had to block his IP address.

These days, I’m no target. I don’t have a million page views each month. I don’t take polarizing positions on anything. I don’t tell you how to raise your children or treat your partner. I don’t even suggest how to manage your depression, and lord knows I could write a book about it. If you want to drink all day and lie around watching Cops reruns, I support you. I only ask that when you write about your day, you write about it compellingly. Without animated GIFs dancing at me while I’m giggling at your post.

It’s for these reasons and more that I started this weekly link up. Everybody needs a little blog love now and again, and I’d like to curate it. One central location for love. Kinda like a whorehouse without the exorbitant fees, social stigma and heroin addicts.

If you’ve got links to share for this week, please link them here. Voting for your favorite starts tomorrow. I may scrounge up a prize for the winner; you never know.

I’ve forgotten what the first prize was that week. I think an iTunes gift card or something like that. Through generous donors and my personal budget, over the past year, I’ve given away, among other great prizes, gift cards, books, video editing services, scented candles, WordPress blog templates, Etsy shop items, New Orleans pralines and coffee, homemade cookies, vinyl records, digital music and, with this month’s superfecta points challenge:

  • a new theme installed and mildly tweaked by Erica
  • a new header designed and installed by Q
  • an 8×10 print or digital photograph with custom elements by Flood. The photo attached to this post is one she made for me at free fringes. The typewriter is for me the writer, the map for me the traveler, the kids’ toys because my kids just can’t let me work interrupted, the liquor bottle and highball glass is for none of your business
  • a complete review of your current blog with recommendations on how to improve your content, writing, search engine visibility and design by my Blogging Bash partner Alexis. If you accept her recommendations, as a team, we’ll help you implement them. Are your text and header fonts all crazy and unreadable even though you loves some crazy and unreadable fonts? If you take Alexis’s suggestion for more readable fonts, for example, we help you find ones more suitable and install them. Not just action items—action action.

Thanks, you guys, for a wonderful year. I’ve watched many of you form communities and find new tribes specifically through yeah write, and that energizes me from week to week as I code the linkup on Mondays, tweet out your posts on Tuesdays and Wednesdays,  get the vote out for you on Thursdays, then announce the winners on Fridays. You make it all worthwhile.

Yeah write #50 is open.


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