It’s raining virgins

Hey yeah write! Say hello to the six virgins on the challenge grid! Thanks to all our writers, old and new, for bringing your best stuff to the most awesome online writing community there ever was. It was a cozy grid, so you each had two votes to cast. Let’s check out this week’s winners.

Crowd favorite

“Staying in the Life Outside” by Janice Wilberg at Red’s Wrap

Crowd favorite this week goes to Janice W at Red’s Wrap for her post “Staying in the Life Outside,” an emotionally compelling meditation on growing older. Congratulations Janice! Go grab your crowd favorite badge and display it proudly on your blog.

Congratulations also to our runner up, Ana of AnaChips! Your top row badge awaits you in the sidebar.

The kiwi award

“How We Move” by Ana of AnaChips

It’s time again to ask the question, “What impressed Rowan this week?” We may not have had enough posts to open the invitational grid, we’ve still got a flightless bird to award to our submission editor’s favorite. This week Kevin the Kiwi goes home with Ana of Anachips for “How We Move,” a coming of age story that’s eminently relatable and heartwarming without trying to be overly emotional or a tearjerker. In Rowan’s words, “it gives the reader something concrete to connect to, and efficiently conveys the particular sadness with which we put aside our “toys” and our growing-up years.”

The return of Comment Bob

Comment Bob is ready to pull out his pompoms and shake them in the face of the reader who leaves the most thoughtful comments on each entry. In an unprecedented move, Bob is awarding himself to a different kind of yeah writer:  the lurker. Lurkers are a vital part of the yeah write community – they may not post to the grid, but they participate by reading, commenting, and voting fairly.

Congratulations to Celeste at RunningNekkid for exemplifying that spirit this week. Thanks for participating! You can pick up your Bob badge in the sidebar. We hope to see you on the grid in the future!

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 busting out the pumpkin spice gin to honor the turning of the calendar from August to September. 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.

Prizewinners to be announced on Sunday!

For the past two challenges, the editors have been scouring the grids for the very best writing because we’ve got prizes to award:

• 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.

We’ll be huddling together — as though we are playing football — to determine the winners. Check the Sunday kick-off post to see if you made the cut! 

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 #178 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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