It’s hot. And not just on the grids.

Maybe it was our newly installed air conditioning that drew you to the challenge grid this week. It’s beastly outside in much of yeah write land, and we want you to be comfortable.  From a sizzling challenge grid,  we congratulate the eight bloggers who made the cut to this week’s editor-curated invitational grid: Natalie, Misty, Kirsten, Alisa, Janelle, Arden, and the anonymous writers at From Novels to Board Books and Is Everyone an Idiot But Me? Get your head out of the freezer and go grab your editor’s pick badge from the sidebar.

Jury prize winner

“Nothing Says Family Friendly Like a Prostitute and Her Rainbow of Condoms” at Is Everyone an Idiot But Me?

Our jury prize winner this week chose to link up with one of the tasks from our 31dbbb summer series — writing an opinion post. In “Nothing Says Family Friendly Fun Like a Prostitute and Her Rainbow of Condoms,” the author at “Is Everyone an Idiot But Me?” writes a pitch-perfect opinion piece excoriating ABC Family for featuring the movie “Pretty Woman” on its supposedly family-friendly network. The first paragraph is a case study in sarcasm, as the author outlines the plot of the movie as a pitch to families with kids.

This tone continues through the last sentence of paragraph two, when, after describing the darker side of “Dirty Dancing,” she states her thesis: “I think these are fine movies . . . just not for an eight-year-old.”

The post works because of its light touch and humorous tone – the author persuades as she makes us laugh, right down to a spot-on final sentence that plays off ABC Family’s tagline: A New Kind of Family: “The kind that wants their kids to learn about the fairytale of prostitution early on.”

Congratulations! Not only do you get to grab your nifty yeah write jury prize badge from the sidebar, you also win a mess of books. Email Erica M with your mailing address and she’ll get you out your loot: Chad Simpson’s new book “Tell Everyone I Said Hi”, The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield, and Ron Carlson’s excellent Ron Carlson Writes a Story.

Crowd favorite

“I’ll be waiting right here” by Alisa at Ice Scream Mama

Alisa makes it two in a row as she wins crowd favorite on the challenge grid again this week with “I’ll be waiting right here.” [Oops! Human error! Last week’s winner was Mary at “A Teachable Mom.”] She pulls a sweet so what out of the full catastrophe that is the everyday morning rush in a family full of kids. Mother and son push and pull in a game of hurry up and wait, each wanting more time, but for different reasons. Small details—Reese’s Puffs, army men on the floor, and the “pour and sputter of the beloved Keurig” — set a scene of controlled chaos, overwhelmed by emotions as a rushed parent suddenly wants to freeze her growing boy in a moment of childhood. Pick up your badge in the sidebar, Alisa!

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

We all bring our best nonfiction stories to the challenge grid each week, but I bet you write about other things and in other styles on your non-yeah write days. You know what? You can link up those posts too. Every weekend, beloved yeah write supporter and Jersey girl Michelle Longo hosts our moonshine grid, where you can share just about any other post you write, unless it’s commercial or sponsored. Grab a badge in the sidebar and join us! We’ll crank the AC.

The moonshine grid opens at 6 p.m. eastern time each Friday and will close by 12:01 a.m. each Monday.

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.

Wait! There’s more!

Take a moment to congratulate this week’s winners—the jury prize, editors’ picks, crowd favorite, and our top row 5— in comments. Yeah write #119 opens Tuesday.

Is it still July? Yes? Then yeah write’s summer series continues in full swing. Every day we’re following ProBlogger’s 31 days to build a better blog to hone our blogging skills in community with the most welcoming writers on the internet. Come back and see us every. single. day.

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