We’ve got winners

You have no idea how much internal strength it took for me not to write “Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner” in that header. Patting myself on the back so hard right now.

There weren’t quite enough bloggers this week to push us over the 30-post mark and open up the editors’ invitational grid and jury prize competition. But since everyone is blogging their brains out for NaBloPoMo, we should have tons of material for next week, as long as you bring your best stuff. We’re looking for storytelling with a central conflict and some kind of transformation. You know, what we like to shorthand around here as the “so what” of a post.

Even without the jury prize to award, we still had a close competition and there are writers to honor. Let’s get to it.

Crowd favorite

“God, You’re Such a Freak” by Gwen at Little Growing Pains

Gwen from Little Growing Pains wins crowd favorite this week for her painful post “God, You’re Such a Freak” — a tale about trying to fit in with the mean girls in high school by dumbing it down, only to find that even these efforts aren’t enough. Gwen captures true-to-life high school dialogue as her inner struggle plays out in the authentic voice of a teenager. It’s a masterfully crafted story, with a killer first line and a three act structure that compels without engaging in dramatics. Congratulations Gwen on your first win! We can’t wait to read more from such a promising young writer.

Congrats also to the rest of our top row 5: Angela, Samantha, anon at Dark Circles, and Natalie. We have top row 5 badges for each of you over in the side bar. Go grab the code and slap it up on your blog. You earned it.

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

It’s the weekend, and yeah write guest editor Natalie D is setting up her moonshine grid and bathtub gin just for you. If you have a favorite post to share or just wanna hang out drinking a little apple cider, please catch up with Natalie starting at 6 p.m. eastern time today. She’ll be wiping down the bar by midnight on Monday. The weekend crew is a fun group, you should stop by.

Keep blogging: BlogHer’s NaBloPoMo at yeah write

If you are participating in NaBloPoMo with us, congratulations! The month is now 26.67% over! Use this month of daily blogging to try out new things on your blog – free write, post photos, dabble in vlogging, interview someone awesome, or try your hand at a book review. And of course keep writing the kinds of personal essays and anecdotes that meet the submission guidelines here at yeah write.

Be sure to keep supporting your rowmies with comments and encouragement. Being a writer is all about being a daily writer, and there’s nothing to spur you on in that effort like doing it in community. 

We’re blogging every day here at yeah write too. Visit our growing NaBloPoMo archives.

Speaking of the moonshine grid and NaBloPoMo

It’s NaBloPoMo at yeah write perk package day! We are giving away one prize to four random winners meeting eligibility requirements for a total of four prizes from our list of donated goodies. One additional random winner meeting eligibility requirements will be rewarded with our new yeah write book bundle: three of the 2013 Best American series. 

Today’s basket of goodies to be split among the winners, one prize each:

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, 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…

As always, take a moment to congratulate our winners and give a shout out to other bloggers who inspired you this week with their writing. We’ll be here next week too, and all of the weeks after that.

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