Greetings Earthlings!
There’s a first time for everything, and those moments stay with us. The first time you wrote a story or a poem. The first time you shared it with someone you trust. The first time you hit that submit button. Writing can be exhilarating or scary or a miserable trudge through fog, but most of all it is personal. Intimate, even. Every time you submit a post, you’re giving us a little piece of yourself. Don’t think we don’t appreciate that. We love you for it.
Whoops, the bartender knows to cut me off when I get too sentimental, and he’s giving me that look. Why don’t you read on while I nurse my last glass?
Answer the ultimate question in exactly 42 words: is this your first time?
It’s a pretty broad question, but make sure you answer it – there should be an implied yes or no somewhere in your response – and make sure your answer stands alone. What do I mean? Cover the question with your hand. Now read your answer. Does it still make sense?
Proofread! Do you have typos? Spelling mistakes? Grammatical errors? Are you sure that word means what you think it means, in that context? You’ve only got 42 of them. Get one wrong and it’s a whole lot easier to spot in a gargleblaster than in a longer piece. Need a second set of eyes? Find yourself a writing partner over in the yeah write coffeehouse.
Please, for the love of Marvin, don’t use the question as your title, or anywhere else in your piece. And remember, any words surrounding your gargleblaster — explanations, references, etc. — will be counted against your 42-word limit.
The top 42 entries will be open for voting on Thursday
You can enter only one micro-story, but the grid itself will be unlimited as the entries are being submitted. We will open the top 42 entries to a popular vote on Thursday. The voting grid, however, will be limited to the top 42. So many changes, so much new stuff to understand. Email us or head over to our pages on Facebook and Twitter with any questions.
Winners will be announced on Friday
Look for Friday’s combined winners’ post to see the crowd favorites and editors’ picks from across all of our challenge grids.
Fall writing contest
November 2 marks the beginning of our fall writing contest! It’s open to all yeah write subscribers across the challenge grids, so keep an eye out for instructions on how to sign up. The winner of the challenge can win $200 cash. If you invite a friend to the challenge and your friend wins instead of you? You each get the $200 cash: your friend for winning and you for referring the winner to yeah write.
We’ve got a bunch of other things we think yeah writers will like, so stay tuned!
What else is happening around here?
We’ve got the nonfiction challenge grid opening on Mondays, the speakeasy for fiction and poetry on Tuesdays, the gargleblaster microstory challenge on Wednesdays, and the come-one, come-all moonshine grid for the weekends. We’ve got a great hangout space over at the coffeehouse, and coming up, we’ve got a writing contest! Don’t want to miss out? Make sure you sign up for our weekly e-mail blast. And pop back in here whenever you can.
Is this your first time?
The yeah write #183 weekly writing challenge is open is open for micro-stories: fiction, non-fiction, haiku, whatever. Answer the question in exactly 42 words by clicking the link below.
