Final family-free week!

Today is Mothers’ Day in the US, and it’s also the last week of yeah write’s family-free month. Before we kick off the week, we want to thank you for playing along with us. We hope that you tried something new, that you learned something useful or interesting about your own writing, and that you have been pleased with the stories that have been shared.

This week in particular, the temptation to write about our mothers, wives, daughters, and other maternal figures is strong. Resist! Save that great Mothers’ Day story for next week. Right now, we’re still looking for posts that avoid using family relationships as a central theme.  No husbands, wives, sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, second cousins or long-lost missing twins. You see what we mean. If you are unavoidably inspired to write about family, you can always submit it to the moonshine grid, where anything goes and the grid is always rules-free.

Challenge winners round-up

In case you missed them, here’s a summary of all the #160 winners. Do you usually stick to the challenge grid? Go check out the speakeasy. Is fiction your usual thing? There’s some pretty lovely writing over at the challenge grid, and the gargleblaster too. Expand your horizons!

Challenge grid

• Crowd favorite: Lisa from Whittling Harmony for Love Never Dies
• Top row: Erica from Free Fringes for Reconsider, Me and Tracy at From the Laundry Room for Black Dress
• Kevin the Kiwi: Christie at Outlaw Mama for You Say Slow Cooker, I Say Pot O’ Crock
• Comment Bob: Christine from christineorgan.com

Speakeasy

• Crowd favorites: Janna from JannaTWrites for The Recruiter, followed by EA Wicklund from Momus News for Finding the Brain and tnkerr for Valerie
• Editors’ pick: Silverleaf from Silverleaf Journal for A Serious Undertaking

Gargleblaster

• Crowd favorite: Paul at paulmclem.com for The Spoils of Defeat
• Top row: Christine at Trudging Through Fog for Hunt, Christina at Other Than Lovie for Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear, Rach (theinnerzone) at The Pigments of Life for Sortie, Susan at The Wizard’s Word for Breakfast, Renada at A Windless Sound for Love Birds, and The UnCheshire Wife for her 42-word story
• Editors’ pick: Jen at Finding Your Spirit for Thieving Birds

Congratulations to all! Don’t forget: the moonshine grid is still open. Have something to add? Old posts and new are welcome. Go add yours, and while you’re there, visit your fellow yeah writers.

The ultimate question

It’s spring, and I’ve been hanging outside in the backyard whenever the sun pokes out from the clouds. It’s great — as long as I stay vigilant. As much as I love the outdoors, I loathe anything with more than four legs. So when editor Michelle L suggested this question, it seemed perfectly apropos. This week’s ultimate question comes from the yeah write #42 crowd favorite, Panic at the Starbucks by Jennifer at kvetchmom (which, incidentally, you should all read because it’s awesome).

Is something crawling on me?

At first glance this looks like an easy yes-or-no question. It seems to demand that we turn immediately to bugs and other horrible things. (Yes, I know they have their place in the circle of life, blah blah blah, but seriously. They need to stay away from me.) I am challenging you to think of something different. Don’t go where we expect you to. Don’t write down the first thing that comes to mind. Think, craft, edit, and craft some more. I’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

Give us your answer in 42 words. You don’t need to include the question in your 42-word response, and make sure your answer stands alone. What do we mean? Write down the question. Write down your response. Now cover the question with your hand and read your answer out loud. Does it still make sense when you don’t know the question? That’s what we’re looking for. Be creative, and remember: no family allowed!

The grid opens at midnight on Monday and closes at midnight on Tuesday. Yes, that’s only 24 hours to post, so you’d better get writing now! We’ll announce winners on Wednesday. Don’t forget to badge your post – the current gargleblaster badge is below.

Challenge schedule

There’s a lot going on around here lately. To make it simple, we’ll lay out the multi-grid schedule here:

• Sunday midnight: the gargleblaster prompt is announced in the kickoff post, and the speakeasy prompt is announced over at the speakeasy.
• Monday midnight: the gargleblaster grid opens for submissions.
• Tuesday midnight: the gargleblaster grid closes, and voting begins. The challenge grid and the speakeasy grid open for submissions. 10:00 PM: gargleblaster voting closes.
• Wednesday by noon: the gargleblaster winners are announced.
• Thursday midnight: the challenge grid and speakeasy grids close, and voting begins.10:00 PM:voting for both grids closes.
• Friday by noon: the challenge grid and speakeasy winners are announced, and the moonshine grid opens.
• Saturday and Sunday: moonshine grid is still open, writing, editing and rewriting happening for upcoming week!

Get your badges!

Below you’ll find the badges for yeah write challenge #161 and this week’s gargleblaster. Copy the code under the appropriate badge and paste it into the html or text view of your blog editor. Having trouble? Contact christine@yeahwrite.me for tech support.

<a href="https://yeahwrite.me/writing-challenge-161/"> <img src="https://yeahwrite.me/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/challenge161.png"> </a>

<a href="https://yeahwrite.me/gargleblaster-161/"> <img src="https://yeahwrite.me/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/gargle161.png"> </a> 

New to yeah write?

Welcome! This is a special kind of place, and we hope you will dive right in. If this is one of your first visits to yeah write, please take a look at our page detailing how yeah write works. If you’re having trouble figuring it all out, feel free to email us, and we’ll help get you started along your way. We think this is the best community on the web for writers who blog and bloggers who write. We’re thrilled to have you join us.

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