That’s a long and drawn out way of saying…

Dude Write is a success!

With a week under the belt, we had 29 dudes in the starting lineup, 34 fanatics, 52 followers, 2181 page views, an average of 30 page views (posts on earlier have more page views typically) going to each dude’s post from Dude Write and lastly a total of 208 votes cast.

(no partridges or pear trees at present)

We enjoyed sword fights, illustrated posts, life lessons from dads and wheelbarrows, much potty humor, a tribute to irish funerals, even a post about why someone isn’t ready for the Dude Write challenge (he’s totally up for it)!

Proper acclaim and thanks should go out to all the participants for bringing some truly entertaining posts. We said dredge up the good stuff and like that first phlegmy cough in the morning…we GOT some chunks of good stuff!

We would be remiss if we didn’t give out some additional thanks:

To all the ladies out there that get us, want to get us, or just enjoy watching us, your tweets of encouragement are appreciated. We are sure to miss a proper shout-out here, but just know that we tried to get every one of you. You understand that this is just a pro-dude thing and not an anti-dudette thing.

Lastly, the fine ladies over at Yeah Write are an inspiration to us in much of what we are trying to accomplish. For a non gender based competition, you should check them out! They kick off Tuesdays at Midnight.

If everything went as expected, the starting lineup should look the same, but three Dudes have risen to the top (possibly only figuratively). As much as we like to compete, we like even more to not lose, so hopefully the person who had the least number of votes is not moved to the bottom and no votes have been revealed because nobody needs to know.

Our inaugural Diamond Club winner is…. The Six Fingered Monkey and his post about New Pussy. And with that goes the pocketful of lint and warm gummy bears along with love and respect of all our Starting Lineup entrants. He can link up in the Diamond Club and he will be given the opportunity to award a Chairman’s Choice next week.

In the category of not quite kissing your sister, we have…Nest Expressed and his post 10 Dolls to Haunt Your Children’s Dreams where we learned that toymakers are not all Guipetto and Santa Claus.

Rounding out our top three four is WorkingDan and his post Give Them What They Want that assuredly made most of us curl up in the fetal position. In a bold last minute move, Kevin snuck up for the tie with his post Did You Spray In There?

So, as your editors, we realized that asking everyone to post their favorite signature piece was going to make judging difficult and not having some offense taken almost impossible. Trying to objectively look at anything with an objective eye is difficult. Who says we gotta be objective? Who says our opinion will last longer than a fart in a windstorm? We just like giving out prizes.

Your mighty editorial staff has spoken and each has picked a favorite to be branded with the hot coal fire of our Chairman’s Choice award. (if you’d like to further decorate with the aforementioned Farts In Windstorms as your native american name, please go ahead)

Youngman Brown said, “Wow! What an amazing group of guys we got in just our first week here at Dude Write! Some of you made me laugh, some made me think, and some almost made me cry (please don’t revoke my Man Card for admitting that). But I think that I have to give my Chairman’s Choice pick to Raymzz over at The Cuban Missive for his piece “Consider My Enthusiasm Curbed.” I was (and still am) just like his son, in that I put small tasks off for weeks at a time. In an attempt to teach his son a lesson, he gets himself into a “sticky” situation, and hilarity ensues. It was written ingeniously, and truly made me laugh out loud, all the way through.”

WilyGuy said, “Tough decisions call for tough guys. I’m not all that tough. I’ve read and re-read, I tried to comment on every post we had entered, not because I’m lame and you need a lame comment to feel good about yourselves… rather because I’m lame and it makes me feel good about myself. In all seriousness, I was unprepared for the level and variety of posts and that I alone (with Youngman) would have to pick from amongst them. It was very close, but I’m going with Dear Harrison – There’s been a change of plans for my Chairman’s Choice pick. Normally, it is difficult to hold my attention through an entire post of that length. His writing was raw and edgy, capturing my interest from the start. Battling the forces of ADHD, the post never let my attention wander and never spoiled the ending.”