There were three newbies on the challenge grid this week! Thanks for jumping right into the fray, and we hope we didn’t trigger any of your social anxieties with our awesomeness. Please come back to see us, we enjoyed having you around.

contributing editor’s pick

Until we get back to 50 published entries on the challenge grid, we will award one editor’s choice as opposed to the four we would award to a full grid. Kristin W will be judge and jury and god of the grid for the next few challenges. Thanks, Kristin, for your dedication to yeah write.

The Long Way Home by Kathleen of Michigan Left

I found Kathleen’s post at Michigan Left about taking The Long Way Home to be a touching manual for how to survive a memorial service for a lost loved one. Despite pointing out that “This wasn’t a funeral; it was a celebration”—there is a somber mourning that pervades the post. I appreciated the touches that showed her aunt’s personality—the scotch and water, making sure to greet everyone who visited, the buttered tart. Kathleen shares what many of us feel, those of us who have left where we grew up to make new homes: “It’s sad and strange to go home when the people you loved the most are no longer there.” Her desire to quickly leave at the end is natural, but it’s a relief when the narrator realizes that she doesn’t have to run – and that home is ahead of her, not behind.

Congrats, Kathleen! Please feel free to click then download this custom photo by Flood to display on your blog or as a black light poster for your childhood bedroom once you finish perfecting that time machine.

popular vote winner

The Plan by Bill Dameron of The Authentic Life

“But as our cache of lottery tickets grows we begin to discuss what we will do with the winnings. We would most certainly keep working, but just until we get pissed off by some transgression at work, which is estimated to take fifteen minutes, tops. Paul would purchase a Bentley automobile and I would…”

Well, you’ll have to read Bill’s post for yourself. I will not ruin for you his lovely tale of growth and discovery on a road trip with husband Paul. His family stories win over our voters each week, and we thank him for being such a faithful participant.

Congrats, Bill, on another yeah write crowd favorite win. For your time machine, black light poster-making pleasure:

Win-Win

The thumbnails are now sorted in the grid from most yellow star votes to the least. The top row five badges will return the first challenge week we fill the grid with 50 bloggers. For this week, because the grid had 32 entries, the array highlights the top row three.

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 #72 opens Tuesday. Please stop by Flood’s speakeasy for even more posts to read and enjoy.

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