All good things…

The summer series is now officially over. Pack up your new skills and tuck them in your pockets so you can easily retrieve them when needed. Thank you to everyone who took part and congratulations to those of you who were chosen for our summer series showcase invitational grid.  A special shout out to the yeah write editors (um, not me) who did the heavy lifting in the lounges and volunteered hours and hours of their time to make it such an awesome experience: managing editor Christine H, submissions editor Rowan G, and contributing editors Suzanne P and Natalie D. Let rounds and rounds of applause ensue for everyone!

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You can’t swing a dead cat in here without hitting a virgin

Kudos to all of you who came out during this end of summer, beginning of  school, almost Labor Day week. And as always, we give a special welcome to our challenge grid virgins. Five virgins this week! Thanks for joining us! Y’all had three votes this week. Let’s see what you did with them.

Crowd favorite

“Spectacle” by Michelle Longo at The Michelle Longo

Yeah write editors aren’t eligible for the jury prize in weeks we award it, but they can compete alongside everyone else on the challenge grid. This week, contributing editor Michelle Longo takes crowd favorite with “Spectacle.” It’s a searing piece that weaves together multiple story strands into a seamless reflection on childhood shame and how it shapes us as adults. Congratulations Michelle! Your crowd favorite badge awaits you.

Congratulations also to the rest of the top row! Meg and s. Nicholas, go grab your top row badges in the sidebar.

The kiwi award

“The Weight of a Paper Crane” by Meg of Pigspittle, Ohio

We didn’t hit the 30 post mark to open our invitational grid but hey! Guess what? We’ve got different bling to offload on weeks like this. Kevin the Kiwi goes home with submissions editor Rowan G’s favorite post and she is always on the lookout for a little extra je ne sais quoi. This week’s kiwi winner is Meg of Pigspittle, Ohio, for her beautifully crafted personal essay, “The Weight of a Paper Crane” on Hiroshima, 9/11, and the power of remembrance.

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. It’s a long, lazy weekend, so Natalie’s just setting out a tub full of ice and cans of PBR. If you say “PBR me ASAP!” she’ll give you two for one. 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. Show us the other facets of your blog – those posts that might not meet the challenge grid submission guidelines. Closing time is midnight on Monday.

What’s next? NBD, just some prizes

Don’t be sad that summer is over. Because we’re offering some prizes for our weekly winners coming up:

• a random penguin mug good for all of your drinking needs designed by friend of yeah write ML Philpott;
• NYT bestselling title Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Redemption and Resilience by Laura Hillenbrand; and
• A $20 Shutterfly Gift Card.

Who gets this stuff? Well, the editors will select the winner from the very best posts from this challenge and next week’s. That means you have two chances to wow us and two chances to win. 

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 moment to congratulate this week’s winners in the comments, and give a shout-out to your favorites on the grid. Come back next week and spin another yarn for us in about 600 words.

Yeah write #177 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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