We’re on our way with our first leaderboard of the six week contest.

Did you know you were competing for some awesome blog element design loot?

All of the details are in this post. Through cumulative points earned from yeah write #46 to yeah write #50, you can win one of four blog design elements:

• a new WordPress theme installed and mildly tweaked by Erica
• a new header [any platform] designed and installed by Q
• an 8×10 print or digital photograph with custom elements by Flood
• a complete review of your current blog with recommendations on how to improve your content, writing, search engine visibility and design by my Blogging Bash partner Alexis

Thanks to Laverne from Kindred Adventures, we have a public spreadsheet that will carry the point totals throughout the competition. Click here to view it.

So who’s winning?

The bloggers with the five highest point totals:

Kristin at That Unique Weblog [27.6]

Stacey at Confessions of a Super Mommy [22.8]

Deborah at MannaHatta Mamma [18]

Five bloggers tied at [12]

Four bloggers tied at [9.6]

A few things

Real quickly: one, this particular challenge is still wide open, even for someone who may not have linked up for yeah write #46. Two, remember the blog design elements are being bundled into a standing offer called the yeah write superfecta plus one. If you link up with yeah write for five consecutive weeks and, in those five weeks, win one each of editor’s choice, Flood’s lurker’s favorite, Q’s lurker’s favorite, popular vote and comment karma, you get all four elements as a whole new blog makeover (three out of the four if you’re on Blogger and refuse to leave it ever ever).

And another thing, the more rows in the grid, the higher your potential points for each week. I mean, don’t depend solely on my awesome marketing skills to increase your point potential. Don’t you have blogging friends who can tell a decent story through words and/or photos who love spending a pretty good chunk of time reading, commenting and voting on new-to-them blogs? I know you do. Get them on the grid and let’s see how many rows we get. The flip side to all that is you gotta write well enough to make it into the top rows, and hope your friend is right there beside you. That’s why it’s called a challenge. One that you’re ready for, I can feel it.

I’m listening

Filling a request because listening to you guys is what I do, I wrote over the weekend 10 tips for creating a clear narrative. If you are determined to become a better writer, I am determined to help you. The world needs more people like you and me. And acceptably earlier cocktail hours.

If you have any questions I haven’t answered already in the posts below—this is your blog redesign at stake, after all—feel free to email me.

Helpful posts and pages

FAQ

guide to writing a winning yeah write post

when to link up with yeah write

your thumbnail avatar on the yeah write grid needs a face

10 steps to writing a clear narrative for yeah write

You ready?

Yeah write #47 opens Tuesday.