Coming Out of Hibernation
The sun returned this week and, with it, a renewed urge to document everything around me. For some, the winter months are a time to hunker down and write. For me, the dark season turns my mind sluggish, my thoughts uninspired. But now, as the light streams earlier and earlier into my bedroom window, I rise—waking up physically and emotionally—ready. And when the noon sun is high in the sky, I find myself noticing my surroundings with fresh eyes. Novel metaphors spring forth. Story ideas flow. The perfect sentence forms unbidden at my fingertips when I sit down to type.
There are seasons to my writing. With the darkness of winter too often comes depression and, with it, a slowness to my thinking. Now, as crocuses pop up and songbirds return, my senses emerge like the buds on the trees, ready to describe the awakening world. It’s a time for nostalgia, too, as the marking of the new season acts as a signpost to my life, throwing me back to other springs, other times of renewed hope, emergence, and rebirth.
Perhaps the change in seasons brings changes to your writing practice as well. What stories of spring, beginnings, the life cycle, or the light do you have to bring to the grid this week?
Yeah write super challenge
Our third super challenge is officially over! Congrats to Robin Quackenbush, Tamara Oliver, & Amy Palen on their top three finishes. Did you miss out on registration? Sign up for our email blast so you don’t miss out on any announcements for our super challenge #4. Next time, we head back to the land of fiction!
Nonfiction know-how:
constructive criticism
Enough about writing; let’s talk about reading. For this month’s nonfiction know-how, we want you to take a little break from your own writing. We’re always harping on how being a better reader will make you a better writer. But how do you become a better reader, and what do you do with that reading skill once you have it? Well, it’s for those two little words that strike fear and joy into a writer’s heart: constructive criticism. Learn more from Rowan here.
Want more info?
Is this your first time here? Check out Sunday’s post which kicked off the week here at yeah write. Our email subscribers can also join us in the yeah write coffeehouse at its 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.
How to submit and fully participate in the challenge
Basic yeah write guidelines: 1000 word limit; your entry can be dated no earlier than this past Sunday; nonfiction personal essay, creative opinion piece or mostly true story based on actual events.
1. In the sidebar of this week’s post, please grab the code beneath the nonfiction badge and paste it into the HTML view of your entry
2. Follow the Inlinkz instructions after clicking “add your link” to upload your entry to this week’s challenge grid
3. Your entry should appear immediately on the grid if you don’t receive an error message
4. Please make the rounds to read all the entries in this week’s challenge
5. Consider turning off moderated comments and CAPTCHA on your own blog
Submissions for this week’s challenges will close on Wednesday at 10pm ET. Voting will then open immediately thereafter and close on Thursday at 10pm ET. The winners, as always, will be celebrated on Friday.
Thank you for sharing with us your hard work! Good luck in the challenge…
Loading InLinkz ...
