Greetings, Earthlings!

I don’t know about you, but this week’s flurry of posting, reading, commenting and voting left me a little breathless. We sped the challenge up a bit, as you know. How did it work for you? Your editors want to know.

And now that the gargleblaster is over for the week, why don’t you take a few minutes to check out this week’s challenge grid (for personal essays and traditional blog anecdotes) and the speakeasy (for fiction)? Read, comment, get to know the community. It’s a great place!

Crowd favorite

Your stories this week ranged from the sad to the silly to the introspective to the downright irreverent. We loved reading each and every one of them! In the end, you chose to award this week’s crowd favorite badge to Karen over at Fat Girl in Boxing Gloves with her beautifully crafted poem Waiting.

It’s dawn, and spring robins

chirp

under the fading crescent of moon.

Incense drifts through a shaft of light.

 

There’s a monk in your living room.

Mantras have been sung.

Prayers whispered.

Permission granted.

 

And still,

your spirit lingers,

         refusing to rise.

There really isn’t a word out of place in this lovely tribute to a lost friend. Congratulations, Karen! You can pick up your well-deserved winner’s badge over there in the sidebar.

Editor’s pick

This week’s editor’s pick happens to be by last week’s hitchhiker prize winner, saroful at Textwall, with her short story Love.

In the ring, there’s a sound like the whole world is growling.  “They love you,” he says, rubbing my shoulders.  There’s blood on the ground.  Some of it’s mine. I have to win.  “Good boy,” he’ll say, “Good dog.”  He loves me.

Here’s what we like about this piece: in addition to answering the question (without directly referring to it), it tells a story. The writer set the scene, introduced characters, and made us care about them, all in the space of 42 words. That’s not easy, and we were pretty impressed. Congratulations, saroful! Go forth and grab your badge.

Top row seven*

We love prizes around here, and it’s so much fun to reward folks for their work. All of you who landed in the top seven spots, go ahead and grab your top row seven badge! That’s Karen, De, Angie, Saroful, Janna, Mridula and Larks.

* I realize that your browser may not display the grid in neat rows of seven, but mine does. Therefore, the Top Row 7.

Miss the gargleblaster? Try some moonshine

We know you won’t all make the grid every week, but don’t panic! The moonshine grid opens on Friday and we’d love to see you there.

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