Let’s wave some flags for our virgins and winners

It may be America’s birthday, but there was no freedom from awesomeness this week at yeah write. Nineteen stalwart writers – including four virgins (welcome virgins!) – came out to play despite the heat and the holiday. Declaring your independence from bad writing, y’all exercised your right to vote for two favorites.

Whew. Fourth of July wordplay is exhausting. Let’s award some badges.

Crowd favorite “Checking the Box” by Rowan G

Only two clicks separated first place from second this week, but in the end you picked Rowan’s post about the impossibility of fitting one’s entire identity into a single tiny checkbox on a job application. Congrats, Rowan – you’ve earned the crowd favorite badge in the sidebar.

Congratulations also to our runner-up, Priscilla Queen of the Dessert for her post “Proper Wrapping” You get a top row badge!

The kiwi of the week is…

Each week our submissions editor Rowan G awards the kiwi to a post that stood out from the crowd. This week, Kevin goes home with Christie from Outlaw Mama for her post “Lapsed Catholic Mother With Kids In Jewish Summer Camp.” Take it away, Rowan: “I love that her post is introspective without lapsing into melodrama over what is really a huge and personal issue. I also really enjoyed her use of internal repetition to build a rhythm for the post and keep it structurally sound as she wound her narrative around that anchor.” Congratulations, Christie! You get to take Kevin home with you!

Comment Bob is shaking his pompoms!

Sometimes Comment Bob finds himself drawn to a particularly sparkly personality. This week he fell in love with Priscilla Queen of the Dessert at Whittling Harmony for having great team spirit and embracing what yeah write is all about: fairness, learning from your mistakes, and never, ever using the passive voice. Congratulations, Priscilla! Bob is waiting in the sidebar to deliver his badge to you.

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

It’s the weekend, and Natalie D will shortly be setting up the moonshine grid and bathtub gin just for you. Natalie will be shooting off illegal fireworks in the parking lot, so wear flame-retardant clothing and bring your own hose. The moonshine grid is the flip side of our weekly challenges: a no-stress link-up where we accept anything except commercial or sponsored posts. Closing time is midnight on Monday.

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. Do not be discouraged if your blog has landed near the bottom of the grid; especially if it was a tight race. The fun lies in getting better exposure for your blog and, in the spirit of competition, an incentive to improve your writing and blogging skills. It’s a win-win for everybody involved. Thanks again, everybody, for submitting, for reading, and 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.

Before you go

Take a moment to congratulate this week’s winners in the comments, and give a shout-out to your favorites on the grid. Come back next week and spin another yarn for us in about 600 words.

Yeah write #169 opens with the kickoff post on Sunday, the gargleblaster on Monday, and the challenge grid and speakeasy fiction jam on Tuesday. Be sure you’ve subscribed to our email list to get notice when prompts are posted, grids open, and voting begins. It’s easy to do! Just sign up right here. And then come back and bring your best writing to the best writing community around! See you next week.

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