[huge]”When you know better, you do better.” —Maya Angelou [/huge]

By now, it’s no secret I didn’t expect to have more than five weekly entries in the yeah write summer series, so I figured offering a jury prize at yeah write would be the same as offering one at a film festival. You know what I mean? Five films compete, one gets best dressed, another gets Miss Congeniality, and now that I think about it, I could be getting a few competitions mixed up, but anyway, yeah, it was a hard task choosing one best entry out of 45, but my panel of judges got it done.

And this is how

[toggle_boxed_dark title=”Did your post have one clear idea, the angle, a central conflict, the reason for telling the story?”] If not, I asked the panel to skip right past that entry to save time. If we couldn’t tell why we were there, we didn’t have a reason to keep reading. Am I harshing your writer’s buzz? I don’t mean to, but like it or not, grabbing the reader’s attention and keeping it is why you’re sitting at the keyboard in the first place. If your thoughts are disorganized, your story will be disorganized. [/toggle_boxed_dark] [toggle_boxed_dark title=”Was the clear idea expressed within the post introduction?”]Your reader will patiently wait until the end for the big reveal, but not for the point of your story. Get to the point early and often.[/toggle_boxed_dark] [toggle_boxed_dark title=”Did your post have a strong and inviting beginning?”]Never attempt to explain to your readers why you’re writing the post, just start writing it. Clear the brush before your guests arrive.[/toggle_boxed_dark] [toggle_boxed_dark title=”Did your post show your passion for the subject?”]This is where your natural personality should show in your writing. For example, if you’re naturally humorous, no matter how sensitive the subject, that humor will peek through if you’re passionate about what you’re writing. If you’re just pounding out the post to meet a deadline, a certain level of drudgery will show as well. I’ve spent years in a lifeless, soulless cubicle. Trust me on this.[/toggle_boxed_dark] [toggle_boxed_dark title=”Did you write creatively without clichés and trite phrases?”]Then we kissed your post on the mouth with tongue. If not, it’s buried in the backyard.[/toggle_boxed_dark] [toggle_boxed_dark title=”Did you take care to properly transition new ideas and subjects within your post?”]If the action was all over the place and we had to read the post twice to get what was happening, we didn’t read it twice, so we don’t know what happened.[/toggle_boxed_dark] [toggle_boxed_dark title=”Did your post have a strong ending that supported your original reason for telling the story?”]Or did you stick the landing like a elephant pushed from a 17th-story window, splattering its guts everywhere? Not cool, elephant-killer, not cool at all.[/toggle_boxed_dark] 

[divider_header_h3] various quotes from the jury selections [/divider_header_h3]

[divider_header_h3] Jury prize winner  [/divider_header_h3]

[image width=”190″ height=”183″ align=”left” lightbox=”true” caption=”” title=””] https://yeahwrite.me/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/blueleaf_winner_jury64.png [/image] With six judges participating and two first place votes, this week’s jury selection is Michelle Longo’s The Cobbler’s Children Have No Shoes.

With its clear central conflict of her mother’s exhausting dilemma of being forced to call on her ex-husband for help and with the underlying tension between Michelle and her brother, Michelle sits her readers at that “small, metal kitchen table” and hands them all cigarettes from her mother’s stash. We each take a drag and, feeling just the right amount of discomfiting voyeurism, watch the drama through the haze. The ending, though final to this particular story, will allow Michelle to carry on the story at another time, if she so chooses. Yet, if she wants to keep the rest to herself, we are still satisfied. And that is the hat trick performed by a proper conclusion.

Congrats, Michelle. Please email me your shipping address so I can send you Steering the Craft by Ursula K. LeGuin, this week’s jury prize chosen by Saalon Muyo, our yeah write #64 guest editor. 

Yeah write #65 opens Monday: writing in an authentic voice edited by Bill Dameron of The Authentic Life.