It’s mid-summer and everyone came out to play!

The invitational grid returned this week as bloggers everywhere wiped the suntan lotion out of their eyes and sat down at their keyboards to write. Congratulations to the bloggers who were chosen to compete for the jury prize this week: Natalie, Deb, Renee, Michelle, Mary, Misty, and Marcy. Go grab an editor’s pick badge from the sidebar and pop it onto your blog.

Jury prize winner

“Homemade Vogue” by Natalie at The Cat Lady Sings

What makes “Homemade Vogue” by Natalie of The Cat Lady Sings such a great post is the pacing. Usually, I’m just annoyed if I don’t really know what a post is about until a few paragraphs in. But Natalie expertly crafts a suspenseful post about a sweet story of giving. We don’t know what’s in the bag in the closet until the third paragraph. We don’t even know why the prom dress is special until paragraphs 7 and 8, when we meet the author’s Grandma, the artist behind the ball gown.

It’s a beautiful story that illustrates what love is without ever telling us “I loved my Grandma and she loved me.” In the making and in the receiving, we see a cross-generational bond being sealed, a gift far greater than any garment. The story flashes back and forward, creating character in only nine words: “I’ve never made something with boning in the bodice.” My favorite detail was the dry cleaning, as I could then see her grandmother chain smoking while piecing together the intricate puzzle of satin.

A symbol is simply some utilitarian object we’ve imbued with special meaning. A dress becomes so much more than simply something to cover our private parts. It’s love in teal satin, transforming a girl into a woman, and it can never be released.

Congratulations Natalie! Not only do you get to grab your nifty yeah write jury prize badge from the sidebar, you also win a mess of books. Email Erica M with your mailing address and she’ll get you out your loot:  Chad Simpson’s new book “Tell Everyone I Said Hi”, The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield, and Ron Carlson’s excellent little craft book, Ron Carlson Writes a Story.

Crowd favorite

“Falling in Love with Boys” by Mary at A Teachable Mom

Mary at A Teachable Mom aptly describes a preschool sausage fest as a mother of girls gets her first peek at the secret lives of boys (all in a completely non-pervy way). Congrats, Mary, on your crowd favorite win on our biggest challenge grid all summer! Go grab your well-earned badge. It’s over there. =>>

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

Did you know we have a big party every weekend? No cover, no velvet rope. Yeah write is open on the weekends in a virtual free-for-all where you can share a post from your blog that wouldn’t otherwise fit the challenge grid criteria. It’s a great way to get to know a different side of your friends in the yeah write community. No commercial or sponsored posts allowed, but otherwise? It’s all the sheer joy of the challenge grid without the pressure.

Hosted by yeah write regular and all-around wonderful person Michelle Longo, 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.

Wait. Before you go

Take a moment to congratulate this week’s winners—the jury prize, editors’ picks, crowd favorite, and our top row 5— in comments. Yeah write #118 opens Tuesday.

And remember! EVERY SINGLE DAY IN JULY we’re following ProBlogger’s 31 days to build a better blog as we expand our focus beyond writing to hone our skills as bloggers.

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