yeah write virgins
Welcome to our three yeah write virgins who joined us this week on a nearly full challenge grid—our largest yet since we moved back to an unmoderated format. Come on back and continue to read, comment, and learn from your fellow bloggers who visit each week to hone their craft in community with other writers.
jury prize winner—invitational grid
“I Have a Decision to Make” by Michelle Longo at The Journey
This week the editors chose Michelle Longo’s post “I Have a Decision to Make” for the jury prize. Michelle framed her story with spot-on descriptions of the ravages of her grandmother’s smoking on her voice. When you only have limited words, your character development must be efficient, and hers was. Stark truths mixed with love and humor, as she drew us in by presenting a completely rounded picture of her grandmother: Her contagious laugh—both before and after the tracheotomy—her dismissal of doctors “with a wave of her hand and a roll of her eyes,” her intensity in her warning to her granddaughter not to follow in her footsteps.
Strikingly moving from the past to the present, we skip ahead more than a dozen years, cigarettes still a focal point in the author’s life. Refusing to tie things up in a neat bow, Michelle ends on a freezing deck, cigarette in hand, uttering her intentions for the future. But this is no look back at her last cigarette. We urge her on in our minds, hoping there will be no relapse, like the many times before. For her sake and for the legacy of her grandmother.
Congratulations, Michelle. Now go grab your jury prize badge and display it proudly. You’ve earned it.
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crowd favorite—challenge grid
“Class of 2017” by Kathleen at Michigan Left
On the challenge grid, Kathleen from Michigan Left takes crowd favorite with her post “Class of 2017” about how fast our kids grow up and how much that sometimes sucks for their parents. We know we are supposed to slowly let that kite string out, eventually cutting it completely so they can fly free, but damn, the temptation to reel them back in is sometimes overwhelming. Also, Class of 2017? That can’t be a real thing.
Congrats, Kathleen. Your badge awaits you to the right.
Weekend moonshine grid opens today at 6 p.m. eastern time!
Tell your friends! Yeah write is now open on the weekends—no editors, no voting, no writer’s block—just hanging out in the clearing among the trees and discarded moonshine jugs. Use this chance to show the yeah write community the other side of your blog—your top 10 lists, your stream-of-consciousness posts, that hilarious text message exchange with your brother. No commercial or sponsored posts allowed, but this will be a good space for letting us all know when you have a cool blog event coming up.
The moonshine grid opens at 6 p.m. eastern time each Friday and will close by 12:01 a.m. each Monday. Grab the badge from the sidebar and go find the perfect post to share!
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. Part of the top row five? Please grab a winners’ badge from the sidebar and display it proudly on your own blog. Congrats!
Do not be discouraged if your blog has landed near the bottom of the grid; it is always a tight race. The fun lies in getting better exposure for your blog and in the spirit of competition as incentive to improve your writing and blogging skills. It’s a win-win for everybody involved.
Thanks again, everybody, for linking up, 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.
