Show me why you’re a special snowflake

One of the things I love about the yeah write weekly challenges is that we don’t make you conform to a prompt, so you have plenty of time to work out your essay before submitting it here. You can take as long as you need to get your words just right.

We trust you to find a topic you’re passionate about so you can bring that passion to your work. Even if your topic is completely obscure, if you convey it properly we’ll be right there with you. That’s what a talented writer does, transports the readers where she needs them to be.

You may feel that you need to pick a topic everyone can relate to if you want to do well in the vote and with the editors, but that’s not necessarily so. In fact, doing so is often harder because we want you to bring something new to the conversation. If you’re going to write about how you don’t like eating your veggies, we hope you have a unique reason or perspective to set you apart. Many of us hate eating our veggies. Show me why you hate them better.

It’s not easy. Finding the extraordinary in the ordinary is hard work. Now go eat your veggies and write something amazing.

Who’s on fourth?

Since it’s the fourth Monday of the month, it’s time for another installment of our interview series. This month, Arden interviews Angie of angieinspired. The interview goes live at noon EST.

First time here?

Check out yesterday’s kickoff post to learn everything you need to know about all of yeah write. Make sure you’re signed up for our email blasts so you never miss one again!

Did you happen to end up here because you suddenly saw yeah write in your stats? Sometimes members of our community spot excellent writing and they send those posts on over to us. We hope you don’t mind. Take a look around and get to know our community. We’re sure you’ll be happy here.

Have questions you can’t find the answer to by poking around the site? Email us or find us on Facebook or Twitter and we’ll happily help you out.

Just the basics

We really want you to read the kickoff post. That’s where the basics are!  Go read it!

Today the grid opens for our nonfiction writing challenge. There is a limit of 500 words plus 100 words grace. The nonfiction challenge closes Wednesday at 9:59 p.m. US Eastern. Voting opens one hour later for both our readers and our editorial staff. On Friday, we will publish editorial picks and announce the popular vote winner.

The ultimate question: what aren’t you telling me?

Our microstories challenge requires participants to answer the ultimate question in exactly 42 words. The nonfiction challenge uses that same question as an optional prompt. If you’re stuck on what to write about, maybe try mulling over the question and see where it leads you.

The yeah write #206 weekly writing challenge is open for nonfiction: personal essays, creative opinion, mostly true stories based on actual events. You can check out the submission guidelines and join us with your essay using the link below.