Greetings, Earthlings!

You brought such an interesting spread to the table this week! We had some pretty serious thrillers, a number of sweet romances, and a fair share of broken hearts. Not to mention a handful of creepy-crawlies and other winged things. This may have been one of my favorite questions yet.

This week we were joined by three gargleblaster virgins and one late-breaking hitchhiker. Welcome, everyone! We think this is just about the best corner of the blogoverse, and we hope you come to love it too.

Crowd favorite

You voted, and the crowd favorite badge goes to a chilling, anguished poem: by Karen at Spilling Words. Here’s The Uninvited:

Congrats, Karen! There’s a fancy badge waiting for you over in the sidebar.

Editor’s pick

Call me sentimental, but this week I’m awarding the editor’s pick to Irrational Realist for a little vignette that – to me – perfectly captures how I feel about this time of year. The end of summer always feels like a Goodbye.

The breeze carried something with it as it ruffled the bedroom curtains; unwanted, yet inevitable. The summer ended and with it the dream. It was time for autumn reality and responsibility, time to leave behind carefree and wonderment. Maybe again next summer.

Congratulations, and thanks for leaving us with such a lovely, nostalgic image. Your badge awaits!

Top row seven*

In addition to Karen, the top row seven includes: Rowan at textwall for The Open Window; Meg at Pigspittle, Ohio for Waiting for Father to Return; Jan at Red’s Wrap for Eight Dollars and Change; Jennifer at Graceful Press Poetry for Girl and Bat: A Poem for Two Voices; Suzanne at Apoplectic Apostrophes for Coda; and Christine at Trudging Through Fog for Nightsongs.

Congratulations, ladies! Pick up your badges over there on the left, and sport them with pride!

The gargleblaster grid is now sorted in order of votes from most to fewest. It’s always a tight race and a wonderful opportunity to learn from your fellow grid-mates. In the case of a tie, InLinkz gives precedence to the post with the highest number of clicks.

* I realize that your browser may not display the grid in neat rows of seven, but mine does. Therefore, the Top Row 7.

Looking for something longer?

Hard as it is to believe, there are other challenges out there at yeah write! Go ahead — take a few minutes to check out this week’s challenge grid (for personal essays and traditional blog anecdotes) and the speakeasy (for fiction). Read, comment, get to know the community. And if the mood strikes you, submit your own post: the challenge grid and speakeasy are open until 10:00 PM Eastern on Wednesday. We know you won’t all make the grid every week, but don’t panic! The moonshine grid opens on Friday and we’d love to see you there.

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