What a whirlwind the past six weeks have been!

Even though I didn’t have room to mention it in my yeah write #50 is open post, I am still accepting comments in this post for anyone who wants to be entered into a random drawing for the final giveaway of a premium WP theme by Elegant Themes. Leave a comment, you’re entered, it’s that simple.

Thanks so much to everyone for your comments and tweets in support of this project. It really wouldn’t be as successful as it’s become without each and every one of you, but your encouraging and complimentary comments make me feel so good about it. Thank you, thank you.

Lemme take some time in this post to direct the newbies, whom we call virgins, to the FAQ and the yeah write Q & A series. Once the grid narrows next week to a finite number of posts, it’ll be really important for everyone to know the guidelines for linking up. We’ve all worked very hard for this to become a writers’ community and not an ordinary linkup for just any old kind of post. We visit, we read, we thoughtfully comment—it takes some of us all day to get to everyone on the grid because we’re not skimming, we are reading—and everyone’s following the guidelines is courteous and helpful for everyone involved: you as the blogger and us as the readers and commenters. 

How yeah write popular voting works

Everybody gets five votes before voting ends Thursday at 9:00 p.m. US EDT [-4 GMT].

Unless there is a glitch somewhere or you’re driving from McDonald’s to McDonald’s borrowing new IP addresses, voting for your own post should be disabled. I validate all the votes and delete all the self-votes.

Depending on your browser, there will be a yellow star either below or above each thumbnail on the grid. Click the thumbnail to read the post before voting, click the star to vote for that post after reading.

After you click a yellow star, the page will refresh, and you’ll have to make your way back down to the grid to vote again by clicking another yellow star. After you’ve clicked five yellow stars, you’re done voting, and you’re free to campaign for your own post and for any other posts you enjoyed. Such good karma when you ask the universe for votes on behalf of someone else.

Please do not vote-bomb the competition. Meaning: when you post on Facebook that you’re in this cool contest and you need votes votes votes, please let everyone in your social media army know they can vote for you only once. The Inlinkz app will kick out any duplicate votes, plus I validate all the votes. In your FB post or tweet or in your blog post, please ask your people to vote for you then read to vote for a few others. That spreads our spirit of community and lets people know not to sit at their laptops clicking your star over and over and over. Grandmas have such good intentions, don’t they? I love grandmas, but when they enter duplicate votes, I delete those, too.

How yeah write editor’s choice and lurkers’ favorite voting work

Erica M the writer picking the best storyteller for editor’s choice

Flood G the photographer choosing her favorite as yeah write lurker

Q the designer choosing his favorite as yeah write lurker

The three of us have such different tastes in writing and blogging ideals, we make a very good blend with each and every blog on the grid being carefully considered, whether you blog about kids, a recurring nightmare, travel plans, a new kitchen table or looking for an auto mechanic. As you’re writing and we’re reading, what we’re looking for can be remembered in one short sentence:

[stextbox id=”yellow_star”]Just tell us a good story (Erica) of an everyday, ordinary transformation (Flood) in an inviting space you’ve prepared for your readers (Q).[/stextbox]

How yeah write comment karma works

Not necessarily the most comments during yeah write, but maybe the most witty, thoughtful, useful, whatever—I’ll know it when I read it.

Yeah write #50 is open for voting, y’all. Be good to each other out there. Mainly by disabling captcha, word verification and comment moderation until voting ends on Thursday.