Greetings, Earthlings!

Did you get your fill of gargleblasters this week? I’m hoping nobody left the table hungry. With seven votes loading up your plates, you certainly didn’t have any excuses!

Two quick reminders before we get to the good stuff: 1) starting next week, the gargleblaster challenge is moving to Wednesdays. Voting will be on Thursdays, and winners announced on Fridays. And 2) the gargleblaster grid will be moderated, just like the other competitive grids at yeah write. We will hold all gargleblasters in the moderation queue and our delightful submissions editor Rowan G will release up to 42 of them en masse when the grid closes. Don’t worry – the question will still be announced on Sundays, so you’ll have plenty of time to write and refine.

This week we were joined by two gargleblaster virgins and five hitchhikers. Some stowed themselves in the forward hold, and some in the aft. Either way, we hope you give them a read. Welcome, everyone! Make yourselves at home..

Crowd favorite

This week’s crowd favorite badge goes to Cynthia K at That Cynking Feeling for a thoughtful lesson beautifully delivered. She really did everything right with this one. Have a little taste of Crow:

Wonderful poem, Cynthia. There’s a time and a place for humility; this isn’t one of them. Your well-deserved badge is waiting for you over there to the left.

Editor’s pick

This week’s editor’s pick badge goes to the crowd favorite runner-up, Tina at Not Just Another Mother Blogger for her fantastic poem, Grudge. Her use of language – her word choices and the placement of them – is absolutely impeccable. The whole poem feels to me like she raked over it with a fine-toothed comb to tease out exactly the right phrases.

I have chewed

the bones

of my grievances

until they calcified,

and still

the gristle

of my

wounded pride

remains lodged

in my throat,

blocking off escape.

 

Two simple words

from you

would have freed me.

 

Instead, the earth covered us both.

 

Absolutely stunning, Tina. I loved every word. Go on, grab your badge from the sidebar.

Top row seven*

In addition to Cynthia K, the top row seven includes: Tina at Not Just Another Mother Blogger for Grudge; Stacie D at Snapshots and Tidbits for Man’s Best Friend; Christine H at Trudging Through Fog for Thieves; Genna at Writeamuck for The Accomplice; Thom at tnkerr for 12 August 30 BC; and Rowan G at textwall for Just Right.

Congratulations, everyone! Pick up your badges over there on the left, and sport them with pride!

The gargleblaster grid is now sorted in order of votes from most to fewest. It’s always a tight race and a wonderful opportunity to learn from your fellow grid-mates. In the case of a tie, InLinkz gives precedence to the post with the highest number of clicks.

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

Looking for something longer?

Hard as it is to believe, there are other challenges out there at yeah write! Go ahead — 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. And if the mood strikes you, submit your own post: the challenge grid and speakeasy are open until 10:00 PM Eastern on Wednesday. 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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