[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Just because.

Wow, I haven’t thought about that phrase in a while. As an adult and a grammarian it makes me cringe a little inside. As a child, it could mean anything, good or bad: Mom, why can’t I have any more pixie stix? Just because. Dad, why are we going fishing together today instead of you going to work? Just because.

Those two little words, summing up all the reasons for an action that are both too complicated and too simple to describe.

Why am I bringing this up now?

Well, I could tell you that it’s a good day for awards: this is the anniversary of the day the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame inducted its first members. Or I could tell you that it’s Edouard Manet‘s birthday (not to be confused with Monet). Or even that it’s National Pie Day (again, not to be confused with National Pi Day, which is March 14). But really, if you ask why we’re giving a Random Penguins mug to the winner of the nonfiction grid today? It’s just because.

Also just because, the results of the popular votes on all three of our grids – nonfiction, fiction|poetry, and microfiction – are right here!

But it’s not all about the popular vote, folks. We also have our editorial staff picks to hand out, for reasons. Every week our editors comb through your submissions looking for their favorites. Picks are based on writing quality, how successful the author is in conveying information, and just plain style. If you got a staff pick this week, grab your badge from the sidebar and wear it with pride!

Once you’re done reading through the staff picks (and congratulating the winners in the comments), keep scrolling down to check out who won the popular vote on all three grids.

If you want to know a little bit more about our writers and winners, next week marks the return of Who’s On Fourth. For this feature, Arden spoke with Lisa of cheapbohemian, who explained how lying through her teeth was essential to her development as a writer. Don’t miss it![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Yeah write #197 weekly writing challenge staff picks: nonfiction

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the solitude of writing has rendered me unfit for public discourse by margaret corvid

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Yeah write #197 weekly writing challenge staff picks: fiction|poetry

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bottom bitch by shannon

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Yeah write #197 weekly writing challenge staff picks: microstories

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everyone’s daughter by angie

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[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]Congratulations to this week’s winners! If you earned the highest number of votes in either challenge, you are this week’s crowd favorite. If you came in first, second or third, you get “top three” honors. Grab your badge from our sidebar!

Looking for your badge? The fiction|poetry, nonfiction and microstories challenges all have the same winner, staff pick, and top three badges. It doesn’t clutter up our sidebar, and they’ll still look pretty on yours!

Everybody: before you go, please take some time to leave your favorites a little love in the comments.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

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

It’s the anniversary of the last time we heard from the Pioneer-10 probe as it drifted off into deep space. If that makes you feel lonely too, why not drop by the moonshine grid starting at 6:00 pm EST today? Natalie will keep the hot toddies warm while you watch Uranus moving farther and farther away. I said Uranus. That’s right. I did. Leave your commercial posts on Ganymede, though. They’re not welcome here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]

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