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Relinquish
How’s your holiday season going so far? Did your mom bring up (in that passive-aggressive sing-songy way) your still-single status at Thanksgiving? Is your cousin Ethan missing Christmas dinner because he plans to track Big Foot? Understandably, a lot of angst—and dark humor—can bleed into our writing at this time of year. That’s good, right? Well, mostly.
Consider this quote by novelist Valerie Miner: The genuine writer relinquishes blame, struggles for understanding. It’s one thing to write about how Uncle Ralph’s gin-infused rant ruined a perfectly good dinner and another thing to write about how Uncle Ralph came to be an alcoholic. The former requires only observation, while the latter asks that you explore deeper. And as you explore you might find empathy—or you may decide he truly is an asshole. The point being, when you let go of blaming, of seeing the world—and yourself—through one dimension, you free yourself to see the complex nature of us all. And that makes for some interesting writing.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Nonfiction theme of the month: flashback
This month, we travel back in time. Rowan offers advice on how to set your nonfiction scene in the past using the flashback. (Note: Link will go live on Tuesday, December 1.) Use it in your essay for this week’s challenge or don’t! It’s completely optional. That being said, be sure to read Rowan’s tips. She is a super genius.
This week’s ultimate question:
Why didn’t you go?
This optional prompt, which also serves as the ultimate question for the microstory challenge opening Wednesday, is here to serve as your inspiration for your nonfiction submission. Already have your own story thought up? No problem! The prompt is only there if you need it.
Want more info?
Is this your first time here? Check out Sunday’s post which kicked off the week here at yeah write. If you don’t think you can remember to check back every Sunday, you can sign up for our email blasts directly to your inbox. Our email subscribers can also join us in the yeah write coffeehouse at its new home on Facebook.
If you’ve never taken the time to read them, please take a moment to familiarize yourself with our submission guidelines. The rules are a little different for each of our challenges and we’d hate to have to send back great writing on a technicality.
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 and Twitter and we’ll happily help you out.
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Submit to the yeah write #242 nonfiction challenge
The yeah write #242 weekly writing challenge is now 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.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]
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