Welcome! We’ve got a lot going on for the next four weeks

We have two phrases here in the southern United States: “get in where you fit in” and “fake it until you make it.” Each of those will liberally apply for the rest of October here at yeah write and at the speakeasy. If you have any questions at all, please email Erica M or email Flood G, and we’ll be happy to walk you through any confusion. If you’re gonna get all yelly, email Kristin W. She’s our complaint department.

Supernatural fiction and poetry at the speakeasy

It’s Broken Magic week over at the speakeasy which means all of your fiction and poetry will be prompted by the strange, supernatural and the unexplained. Over the next month, Flood and her guest Eric of Saalon Muyo will be giving away copies of Eric’s new book Broken Magic, and if flash fiction is your thing or if you wanna give it a shot, please join them. There is now a popular vote at the speakeasy. Just thought you should know because that’s awesome.

Personal anecdotes, personal essays and creative nonfiction here on the challenge grid

Sunday’s post contains resources and links to help define personal anecdotes, personal essays and creative nonfiction for those who need it. Quick primer: for yeah write purposes, the personal anecdote is the well-told blog story we love to read, the personal essay centers around the person writing the essay and should reveal a new perspective on the original topic before the essay concludes. Creative nonfiction, though it may contain a personal story, has more of a global focus with a subject matter requiring research.

These three writing styles should cover each blogging genre historically submitted to the yeah write challenge grid. No one should feel left out, not the graphic storytellers, not the social activists, not the personal bloggers with a well-told story. Once you’ve met all the elements of a yeah write submission, don’t bore us to death, and we will love you forever.

In the spirit of the Broken Magic promotion at the speakeasy, please feel free to use the strange, supernatural and the unexplained as a writing prompt.

RTFM

You guys, not every post you write is a yeah write submission. You may be a published author and a very good writer. But, let’s say, you submit your article on the history of aviation to a botany publication. You may receive a letter from the publications editor saying something like: this was awesome, but we only accept submissions focusing on botany. Here are some of your responses to that letter:

[bullet_list]

• I knew this was a botany publication, but I had this aviation article lying around, and I thought you could use it
• You must not know who I am. This is a perfectly good aviation article and your botany publication isn’t worthy
• I liked your botany publication much better when you used to let me publish my aviation articles at will and your enforcing your own guidelines is highly inconvenient for me

[/bullet_list]

The moderation queue will clear much faster if our submissions editor isn’t writing her infamous love letters to those not writing to the publication guidelines.

Wondering why it’s been four hours and your post still hasn’t appeared on the grid? Flood is busy trying to politely word 10 custom letters that are basically asking the same question: why do you hate us? Then, baby Jesus bless her heart, she’s gotta respond to the responses to her original letter. Come on, now.

As a reminder, these types of posts are no-nos:

[alert_list]

• stream-of-consciousness; I love writing those. They are not accepted on the grid.
• ruminations without telling an actual, interesting story; we’re all getting older—why is your birthday post any more special than ours would be?
• anything at all containing the phrase “but I digress” or any variation of it. It’s written right here: “Honor your audience with proper transitions instead of hopping from place to place, abruptly interrupting yourself with “but I digress”.  If you are digressing, refocus, then start over.”

[/alert_list]

Help us help you: help clear the queue. 

The $100 Amazon gift card writing challenge kicks off today

This is not a giveaway. No raffle drawing, no comment, no amount of tweeting or sharing on Facebook will make you eligible.  You’ll earn your chances over the next four weeks in a cumulative point writing challenge. Nothing will change. Same submission guidelines, same moderated queue, same closed voting by yeah write editors and readers using the vote-o-rama tracker. So it’s kind of like the hundred bucks is gravy on top what you’ve been doing anyway: bringing us your best stuff and earning the highest points at the end of each week.

The scoring

click to embiggen

We will maintain a public spreadsheet with everyone’s cumulative scores. Rows one through five will earn 5, 4, 3, 2 or one point(s) and editor’s picks and jury panel winner will earn 10 points each. No worries if you’re not on the grid one of the weeks. Those 10 editor points can be enough to make up for a missed week, especially if you’re selected by two editors in the same week.

At the end of yeah write 81, one of you will have earned the $100 gift card donated by John Lunt Graphic Design. You can use the money to buy writing materials or writing inspiration. Or, you can choose to donate it to someone who can’t remember the last time he or she saw a hundred dollars in one place at the same time. We are nothing at yeah write if not charitable and giving writers.

If you plan to donate the card after winning the challenge, I’ll add $50 to it so you won’t look cheap and forward it to your selected recipient. If anyone else would like to add to the amount on behalf of the designated classroom, neighbor or family in need just in time for the holidays, please leave your offered amount in comments, and I’ll be in touch.

Helpful links

[bullet_list]

• FAQ
• a blogger’s guide to writing a yeah write post
• what yeah write is, what yeah write isn’t
• vote-o-rama tracker
• weekly winners’ posts

[/bullet_list]

Yeah write #78 weekly writing challenge is open…

[line_divider_thick]