Welcome, virgins!

Let’s give a warm welcome to this week’s three yeah write newbies! Thanks for joining the challenge grid! Your participation put us over the 21 post mark, giving everyone three votes to cast. Which was fortunate, because the grid was deep with good writing about grief, fishing, driving lessons, marriage equality, clean toilets, and many other worthy topics.

Crowd favorite

“Rights and Privileges” by Christine Hanolsy at Trudging Through Fog

Congratulations to our managing editor Christine H for winning crowd favorite for her first ever challenge grid post, “Rights and Privileges.” Christine soared above the grid with more than twice the page views of the runner-up, as yeah writers were moved to read her post again and again. Typically a fiction writer, Christine found the rewards of moving beyond her comfort zone, where, as writers, we often find our most compelling stuff.

Writing about Oregon’s history in the fight for marriage equality, Christine fluidly brings the polls, the politics, and the court cases down to the personal level, powerfully conveying how the losses and the compromises and the ultimate win touched her family.

• How she cried when more than half her state’s residents – no doubt including neighbors and coworkers and perhaps even family – had voted against her rights: “[I]t felt like 1,028,546 people had slapped me in the face.”
• How she and her partner forged forward, throwing a wedding anyway, welcoming children and pets and doing the ordinary but vital things families do. As Christine writes, “Instead of the big picture, we were focused on our own tiny piece of the tapestry as attitudes changed around us.”
• And how, in one of those mundane-turned-momentous moments, which of course had to happen in an IKEA, she learned that Oregon had changed, casting off outdated notions about who can and cannot marry.

This time, she cried in gratitude.

The nonprofit group Freedom to Marry has written about the essential role story plays in the fight for marriage equality: “There is no better way to communicate who we are and the depths of our commitment to our partners and our families than by telling the truths of our lives. Our stories help us communicate, in concrete ways, how the denial of marriage harms families.” Christine’s post is a testament to the power of sharing one’s story. Congratulations Christine! There’s a well-deserved crowd favorite badge waiting for you in the sidebar.

Rounding out the top row three are contributing editor Cindy R  (thanks, everyone!) and executive editor Erica M. Congrats! Let’s grab us some top row badges from the sidebar.

The kiwi of the week is…

If you’re new to yeah write or returning after a break, you might be wondering why the heck we’re awarding a flightless bird badge. That’s just Kevin the Kiwi. In weeks we don’t reach the 30 posts needed to open up our editor-curated invitational grid, the editors award Kevin to a post that stood out from the crowd, just like Kevin does with his bright scarf. This week the editors present the kiwi to  Nate from The Relative Cartographer for his post “Drilled Since Diapers,” a hilarious apologia on behalf of straight guys who mean well, but never learned how to court a woman without coming off  like a weird bro-player. Congratulations! Go snag that kiwi badge from the sidebar.

Comment Bob is waving those pom-poms

Comment Bob is always eager to award himself, in badge form, to the yeah writer who best exemplifies the spirit of our writing community. This week Bob is bestowing himself upon Shailaja at Diary of a Doting Mom, who cheered on her gridmates with thoughtful comments, social media likes, and tweets of support. Congratulations Shailaja! Thanks for encouraging your fellow bloggers this week. You’ve earned your own Comment Bob badge!

Weekend moonshine grid opens today at 6 p.m. eastern time

It’s the weekend, and Natalie D will shortly be setting up the moonshine grid and bathtub gin just for you. She’s feeling a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll, so expect an eclectic mix of Patsy Cline and Metallica. The moonshine grid is the flip side of our weekly challenges: a no-stress link-up where we accept anything except commercial or sponsored posts.  Closing time is midnight on Monday.

Win-win

The thumbnails are now sorted in the grid from most votes to the least. In the case of a tie, the thumbnails are additionally sorted by page views. Do not be discouraged if your blog has landed near the bottom of the grid; especially if it was a tight race. The fun lies in getting better exposure for your blog and, in the spirit of competition, an incentive to improve your writing and blogging skills. It’s a win-win for everybody involved. Thanks again, everybody, for submitting, for reading, and for accepting the weekly writing challenge. And for making yeah write the most welcoming spot on the Interwebs for writers who blog and bloggers who write.

Before you go

Take a second in the comments to engage in a great big yeah write group hug! Congratulate this week’s winners in the comments, and give a shout-out to your favorites from the grid.

Yeah write #163 opens with the kickoff post on Sunday, the gargleblaster on Monday, and the challenge grid and speakeasy fiction jam on Tuesday. Be sure you’ve subscribed to our email list to get notice when prompts are posted, grids open, and voting begins. It’s easy to do! Just sign up right here. And then come back and bring your best writing to the best writing community around! See you next week.

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