[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Wow, Christmas already? There’s only one week left in 2015? Welp. I guess this is a perfect chance for me to talk about word order and typos, amirite?

See, here’s one of my favorite Christmas stories. In the Greek text of the Bible, generally, the text of Luke 2:14 reads “ἐπὶ γῆς εἰρήνη ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκίας” which translates to “peace on Earth to men of good will.” That’s pretty exclusive, right? But that’s the proper translation of that text, because εὐδοκίας is in the genitive case (if you didn’t grow up with or study a language with cases, just trust me on this one, ok?). Supposedly even though putting that word in that case in that order isn’t proper Greek, it’s a good translation of a Semitic idiom that just wasn’t meant to be written in Greek (think of reading texts by someone who is not writing in their native language, and what that does to word order and verbs, ok?).

Only, see, there’s the Codex Sinaiticus too. And in the Codex Sinaiticus, that passage reads “ἐπὶ γῆς εἰρήνη ἐν ἀνθρώποις εὐδοκία.” Now, you can go through that letter by letter or you can take my word for it that the only difference is that the last letter is missing, which changes the word to the nominative case. That means that if you translate it, who’s doing what to whom gets rearranged into “peace on Earth, good will to men.”

Think about the difference: are we wishing peace to a specific subset of people, or are we wishing peace and good will to all?

One letter, guys. Just one. And scholars are going to fight over it for decades more. Think about that when you say “oh, it’s just a little typo.”

Speaking of typos and errors, let’s see what happened in our unmoderated week this week. Even though it’s a federal holiday here in the USA, just like every Friday, I’m going to give you the results on all three of our grids – nonfiction, fiction|poetry, and microfiction – right here!

But it’s not all about the popular vote, folks. We also have our editorial staff picks to hand out. Every week our editors comb through your submissions looking for their favorites. Picks are based on writing quality, how successful the author is in conveying information, and just plain style. If you got a staff pick this week, grab your badge from the sidebar and wear it with pride!

Once you’re done reading through the staff picks (and congratulating the winners in the comments), keep scrolling down to check out who won the popular vote on all three grids. If you earned the highest number of votes in any challenge, you are this week’s crowd favorite! If you came in first, second or third, you get “top three” honors. Grab your badge from our sidebar!

Looking for your badge? The fiction|poetry, nonfiction and microstories challenges all have the same winner, staff pick, and top three badges. It doesn’t clutter up our sidebar, and they’ll still look pretty on yours![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Yeah write #245 weekly writing challenge staff picks: microstories

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souvenirs by jhia beys

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Jhia Beys’s microstory reminds us that love isn’t found in trinkets as easily as it is found in the willingness of one person to open up to another. The tone of “Souvenirs” delicately balances admonition and plea, and left me with the sweet feeling of yearning.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”22650″ alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_circle” title=”nate”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][vc_column_text]

That’s it for our staff picks this week! Remember, we don’t always give out a pick on every grid; if we were impressed by several posts on one grid, we’ll give them all picks, and if nothing really stood out for us on another grid, we’ll hold off.

If you’re lost in the middle of the grid and wondering how you can get a little more feedback on your posts, check out our membership perks!

Everybody: before you go, please take some time to leave your favorites a little love in the comments.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

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

You don’t stop writing on weekends and holidays (ok, maybe you do), so we don’t close up shop! Federal holiday or no, Natalie will be opening the doors to the moonshine grid tonight at 6pm Eastern US Time. Grab that last glass of eggnog and a few chestnuts to roast on an open fire. There’s a chestnut emoji; that’ll do just fine. As usual, the reason for the season isn’t your commercial posts, so leave the ads at home. We don’t have any money left anyway.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Congratulations to the crowd favorites at yeah write #245

The thumbnails are now sorted in order of most votes to fewest. Ties in the overall number of votes are broken by number of editor votes.

Congratulations if you’re at or near the top! Writing well is hard work, and we’re honored you’ve chosen us this week to showcase your entry.

If you’re at or near the bottom, don’t be discouraged. You’re in the right community for learning and growing as a writer, and we are always available with resources for those who ask nicely.

To our readers and voters: thank you! See you next week.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

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