Welcome virgins!

There were three yeah write virgins on our humble and pint-sized grid this week, plus we got to welcome back one or two returning yeah write addicts. Thanks for sharing your stories with us and please spread the word about how awesome we are over here.

Jury prize winner—invitational grid

“The girl next door” by Erin Perry O’Donnell in her eponymous space

We’ve all read of, heard of or experienced “the girl next door” in some way during our lifetimes: a young neighbor who is “not like us” is in distress because of circumstances that are not exactly our concern and certainly not our fault, so what can we do? We can do a few things: We can close our doors behind us and “send good thoughts.” We can call children’s protective services as an anonymous good citizen. We can do nothing.

What made Erin’s story so compelling for the yeah write editors wasn’t so much that Erin did none of those “do-nothing” things—it wasn’t simply how she took action and helped her story’s young protagonist—but how Erin admitted to her readers the initial hesitation of even letting the girl near her own children. After a brief, private moment with the girl called Lucy, Erin set aside near repulsion for Lucy’s caretakers and jumped into the fray. Wholeheartedly and with a loving relationship and shared experiences and shared family dinners that continue to this day.

As a narrator in an evolving story line, Erin did not have the luxury of wrapping her ending in a neat bow. Lucy has a “not like us” family, has been an indirect victim of a violent crime, is growing older and may not always want movie and guacamole time with Erin’s family. Erin presented these facts to her readers with respect for the ever-changing situation without once sounding judgemental and self-righteous. We felt empathy for everyone involved, including the girl’s family, and though not every storyteller is talented enough to pull that off, every storyteller on the grid should take note of that crucial element of Erin’s winning post.

Congrats, Erin, on the jury prize win. Please grab your winner’s badge from the sidebar and display it proudly on your blog. We’d be honored.

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crowd favorite—challenge grid

“The Red Envelope” by Dana Verdoorn at The Chrome Phase

The popular vote goes to Dana Verdoorn and her account of one valentine’s day date that won’t be made into a romance novel anytime soon, but may have a shot at a Lifetime Movie of the Week in which the antagonist, played by John Mayer in his acting debut, loses a penis to a steak knife incident. We wish for Dana many years of better dates and better valentine’s days to come. 

Congrats, Dana, on the win. Your winner’s badge is in the sidebar for your blog. 

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

Tell your friends! Yeah write is now open on the weekends—no editors, no voting, no writer’s block—just hanging out in the clearing among the trees and discarded moonshine jugs. Use this chance to show the yeah write community the other side  of your blog—your top 10 lists, your stream-of-consciousness posts, that hilarious text message exchange with your brother. No commercial or sponsored posts allowed, but this will be a good space for letting us all know when you have a cool blog event coming up.

The moonshine grid opens at 6 p.m. eastern time each Friday and will close by 12:01 a.m. each Monday. Grab the badge from the sidebar and go find the perfect post to share!

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. Part of the top row five? Please grab a winners’ badge from the sidebar and display it proudly on your own blog. Congrats!

Do not be discouraged if your blog has landed near the bottom of the grid; it is always a tight race. The fun lies in getting better exposure for your blog and in the spirit of competition as incentive to improve your writing and blogging skills. It’s a win-win for everybody involved.

Thanks again, everybody, for linking up, for reading, 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.