Greetings Earthlings!

I have a feeling we picked up some new passengers the last time we zoomed through this corner of the galaxy. Welcome! Fasten your five-point harnesses and get ready for a fast and furious ride. The pangalactic gargleblaster packs more punch than any other writing challenge out there. It’s pure, concentrated, literary delight, though some describe it as a slice of lemon wrapped around a gold brick. It’s also harder than it looks, but don’t let that scare you away. All you really have to do is this:

Answer the ultimate question in exactly 42 words: when did our elephants leave?

Literal elephants, figurative elephants, factual, fictional, poetical: we’ll take ‘em all. Just make sure they leave at some point. The hardest part is answering the question, which is why we call it a challenge! Don’t restate the question in your answer, but do make sure the answer makes sense without knowing the question. Please, for the love of Marvin, don’t use the question as your title, or anywhere else in your piece.

Proofreading is a must. Typos, punctuation, grammatical mistakes – with so few words in a gargleblaster, any error will stick out like a Vogon at the ballet. Need a second set of eyes? Find yourself a writing partner over in the yeah write coffeehouse. 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 gargleblaster microstory, but all entries will show up on our submissions grid. Submissions are moderated. Up to 42 entries will be moved to the voting grid, which opens on Thursday. Everybody: read, comment, vote!

If you don’t make the voting grid, don’t despair – you’ll get a detailed love letter from our wonderful submissions editor, Rowan G., detailing where you lost us. 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

On November 2 we’re throwing open the doors to a four-week writing contest on each of the competitive grids: non-fiction, fiction|poetry and micro. The editors will be scoring the entries across all three grids, and at the end of the contest, the writer with the most accumulated points will 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 some great prizes lined up for second and third place as well.

Want the details? I’ve got just the link for you!

What else is happening around here?

We’ve got the nonfiction grid opening on Mondays, the speakeasy for fiction and poetry on Tuesdays, the gargleblaster micro 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 don’t forget the November writing contest! Make sure you sign up for our weekly e-mail blast so you don’t miss out. And pop back in here whenever you can.

When did our elephants leave?

The yeah write #184 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.