We’re counting down to the yeah write summer writer’s series!

July 2 through August 13

For seven weeks, we’ll be suspending open submissions on the grid as we bring you a series of guest posts designed to improve your writing and your writing spaces. We’ll be covering how to write for an audience, create a compelling narrative, write sincerely and authentically, design an inviting blog space, and a few other topics that will knock your socks off. If you don’t  wear socks, pick another motivation and the series will make it happen for you. 

Keep an eye out for the first opening email on Monday, July 2. We’ll be guided by prompts and guest writers, so don’t write anything specifically for yeah write #64 until you read the first guest post. Also? Get some sleep. No need to wait up until midnight to grab a spot. The grid will be open each Monday to Thursday as we wend our way through some learnin’, no racing to link up involved.

For those of you who feel your writing is on target and you’re just here for the beer, the hangout grid will remain open throughout the series. As usual, only one post per blogger per week, so if you’re hanging out, you’re skipping that week on the summer series grid. No shame in that. Summer is for doing whatever you want.

Hey there, virgins

There were four newbies on the challenge grid and two on the hangout. I finally linked to yeah write on my personal Facebook page, and one of my good good friends from college answered the call by adding her blog. That was a fortuitous grab, and I thank Jacqueline for joining us with the touching story about her late father.

[divider_header_h3]editor’s pick by Erica M[/divider_header_h3]

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If you haven’t been following the romance between 20-something Mayor Gia and 40-something Boyfriend, you can catch the origin story in this week’s editor’s pick Wooing Boyfriend: An Inappropriate Love Story. I’m guessing Gia, with her post title, is teasing her readers with her usual irony because there are few love stories more honest and sweetly told than this one. 

The illustrated panel in which Gia shows off a new dress for Boyfriend as she’s waiting for him to ask her on a first date gives hope to all of us waiting for the next piece of good to show up in our lives. A happy slice of trivia: Boyfriend gave Mayor Gia the idea of starting her blog. Happy one year anniversary, Mayor Gia and Boyfriend. Here is to many more.

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[divider_header_h3]lurkers’ favorite posts[/divider_header_h3]

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lurker’s favorite by Flood G

I really like Shiftless Mommie’s turns-of-phrase in It’s All About The Benjamins. Liz’s dad hopes for a lazy Father’s Day, “…sandwiched between consciousness and dad-ness…” but ends up literally shovelling crap instead. Simply told in a Dad-like style, we get the story without any overt sentimentality, but we feel bad for him anyway. SM shares the events with smart humour, but she’s more never more wordy than needed. It’s a delightful entry that I read three or four times because I enjoyed the tone so much.

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lurker’s favorite by Jen W

This week I chose  There’s Been A Change Of Plan from Michael Gray’s Dear Harrison. I’ll be honest. I cried through most of this post. The writing is wonderful, but even more impressive is how much heart Michael writes with. My level of respect for adoptive parents was already high, but to read about Michael and Heidi’s journey that finally brought Harrison home took my respect to another level: awe. It’s amazing to me how two people so seamlessly became parents even when so much was at stake. When the prospects of adopting Harrison were unclear,  Michael and Heidi still loved and nurtured Harrison as if he were already their own. And, they gave (birth mom) Natalie the respect, care, patience and nurturing only rock solid made-to-be parents would give a 17-year-old girl. Everything about Harrison’s story is filled with “emotional and spiritual capital.”

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lurker’s favorite by Kristin W

I have chosen Here, This is For You from Louise Ducote’s Raising Ivy. Not only did Louise manage to tell a poignant story using rich details, she also encouraged all of us to be a little more human in the small ways, the best ways. By sharing her three brief interactions with the tow man, Louise gave us a glimpse into a master of thoughtfulness. Making small talk with depth, offering a ride home, and giving the perfect gift of a home-grown meal of nourishment and sweetness – these gestures are what make the world livable and loving.

A favorite line, for its sensory imagery was, “A couple of hours later I ate the entire melon and scraped the rind bald, my interest growing with every bite. The taste was dense but hydrating, heavy with scent, and it fed me in every way.” And for its capacity in moving the story forward, I loved this line, “He gave me a ride from the mechanic’s back to my apartment so I wouldn’t have to pay for a taxi, and I may have cried a little in his passenger seat; I was twenty-two, this car stuff draining reserves I didn’t have. He dropped me off and I wandered around my apartment wondering what to do; I was hungry, for one thing, no food in the place.”

Thank you, Louise, for reminding us all how to be a little more human to one another.

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Instruction Manual by The Reedster at The Reedster Speaks

This week, Cindy Reed (The Reedster) wins our hearts with how her husband so easily and readily accepted Cindy’s diagnosis of a mental illness. The Reedster is infamous for looking at nearly every life event with bent humor, and that humor was prominently on display in this post, making her very approachable and sympathetic to her readers. You may have noticed in this collection of writers on the grid each week, there are myriad mental conditions, and any partner or family member who shows unconditional love in this situation with which we are quite familiar will get our vote. 

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Win-win

The thumbnails are now sorted in the grid from most yellow star votes to the least. For you guys on the top row, click the plus symbol at the top right of this page to grab your top row five winners’ badge. Congrats.

In the case of a tie, the thumbnails are additionally sorted by page views. 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 voting. And for making yeah write the most welcoming spot on the Interwebs for writers who blog and bloggers who write. 

Yeah write #63 opens Tuesday—the last race to 50 on the grid before the summer series begins.