Who we are and what we do

YeahWrite is more than a website; we are an online writing community that strives to create opportunities for emerging and experienced writers of fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry through a variety of avenues, including:

• Quarterly writing competitions (the Super Challenge)
• Weekly writing prompts
• Articles on writing as a craft and as a career
• Classes and workshops
• Editorial services
• Conversations and networking with writers and editors

Our 100% volunteer staff includes professional writers, editors, and industry professionals who are dedicated to fostering an inclusive, welcoming community that supports every writer, at every stage of their career.

Our story

Once upon a time…

…there lived a young woman in Texas named Erica. It was the heyday of blogging: BlogHer had been founded in 2005, Facebook had opened to the public in 2006 but had a limited wordcount, and Medium wouldn’t be founded for another two years. The internet was wild in those days. Practically everyone could access it and set up a LiveJournal, or a more formal blog if they thought they could manage a little bit of HTML. And blogs were a relatively new and open form of monetizable writing, with very few gatekeepers (you know, like self-publishing has been for the last couple years). Suddenly, voices that would never have had a platform could be heard. People’s personal stories had an audience. And for the price of a few click-through ads and some promises of engagement, folks could actually make a writing hustle work.

And it was good, except… well, except when it wasn’t. The drive to monetize personal writing, the sort of mini-memoir that a blog was at the time, favored clicks over quality and quantity over everything. Bloggers tended to adhere to a standard formula: conversational writing heavily punctuated with strikeouts and ellipses, maybe in bright colors, and always, always, ending with a question to try to engage casual readers in the comments. There were a thousand “blogrings” – opportunistic linkups of communities hoping that if a reader liked one blog, they’d follow another similar blog. But what there wasn’t was a community of writers trying to become better writers.

That’s where YeahWrite came in. Or, at the time, lovelinks. And then yeah write. (2010-12 was not an era in which we capitalized a lot of things.) Erica had the idea to challenge folks to be the best writers they could be, and she created a platform to make that work. She’d scour the net for good writing to add to each week’s linkups, knowing that everyone was watching their blog stats like a hawk and could see where traffic was coming from. And she’d encourage good writers to stay on, week after week.

In those days, there was one linkup – or “grid,” in our parlance – and it was full. Between returning writers who had found a community they loved, and new writers being added, the grid would fill a whole page. Writers were encouraged to read and comment, but it was a daunting task! Eventually, the custom would become “read and comment on your row or column of the grid.”

As yeah write’s community expanded, so did its needs. Erica’s friend Flood joined the team as submissions editor, helping monitor the grids to ensure that writing met some basic quality guidelines. If it didn’t, she’d write a “love letter” to the writer explaining what was wrong and how they could fix it. She also convinced Erica to let her run a secondary grid, the “speakeasy,” for folks whose writing tastes tended toward the fictional and fantastic. And for writers intimidated by the thought of moderation, weekends were dominated by the “moonshine” (do you see a theme here?) grid, where any post was welcome, no matter how long or short, edited or, well, not. But most people weren’t satisfied staying on the moonshine grid for long, and they made the leap to the main grids. (You’d recognize some of the names of those writers if we mentioned them.)

Time passed

YeahWrite has always been staffed by volunteers, mostly by writing professionals of one flavor or another, committed to making our little corner of the net a better one. Or at least an easier-to-read one. But volunteer labor means that people’s day jobs and ordinary lives often have to take precedence: Stacie and Michelle joined Erica’s team. Flood left. Suzanne took over the speakeasy, handing out cleverly crafted prompts that excited folks so much that Natalie and Arden were called in to assist with that grid. Obed monitored submissions between classes. And when the Trifecta challenge closed its virtual doors, the team shamelessly recruited Christine to run a brand-new microstories grid. At the time it was called the Gargleblaster because what even is copyright, anyway? To add to its host of violations, each week the grid asked writers to answer an Ultimate Question in 42 words.

Of course, with three, full, moderated grids (plus the moonshine grid), came the need for a more hands-on submissions editor. Enter Rowan. Whether you loved or hated your love letter, you couldn’t deny she took the time to explain exactly where you’d missed the mark, and how to do it differently next time. She also pioneered the poetry slam, and what’s now called the technique toolbox, generating a library of writing tips and tricks that’s free and thorough. (Rowan will tell you she did it because she’s too lazy to write the same hints more than once.)

It’s hard to mark time by the comings and goings among the team, because there have been so many people who stepped in over the years to give us a hand: Cynthia, Courtenay, and Kristin all held various positions on the team at this time, and Jenny has been a quick text away when we needed a hand. Cindy headed up the nonfiction grid with a steady hand, and helped out with summer how-to workshops in the grid posts in between classes for her own writing and editing business. Recruiting Nate when Suzanne stepped away from the speakeasy – later the fiction|poetry grid – has been one of our best ideas, and Meg was an invaluable voice on nonfiction until the pressures of daily life took her back again. [Ed’s note – five people have looked at this paragraph and we’re still probably forgetting someone we should be naming. Let us know, ok? /rbg]

Remember how volunteering takes its toll? In 2015 Erica stepped back as head of yeah write, and the new executive committee took over, with Michelle as Editor-In-Chief, Stacie as Executive Editor, and Rowan as Managing Editor. Those were big shoes to fill (it took three of us!) but the team managed somehow, and even added the Super Challenge to our roster. We couldn’t have done it without Asha, though – her thoughtful commentary and steady heart have been a lodestone throughout YeahWrite’s evolution from a little linkup to a community of dedicated writers, even before she agreed to a staff position.

And with that round of changes, YeahWrite stayed mostly same-shaped for several years. We kept the lights on for the weekly nonfiction and fiction|poetry grids (although the moonshine closed its doors, finally), and ran the micro grid monthly. The Super Challenge grew into something we’re really proud of, although let’s be honest, we were proud from SC#1 to see how enthusiastic everyone was. And ran a number of workshops and classes for pay and for free.

And times changed

But writing was changing around us. Big publishers were discovering bloggers, and getting jealous of their rights of first publication. Suddenly, work on your personal blog counted as “previously published” and it started making folks leery of putting their words up. More small venues and markets were opening up as self-publishing, e-books, and small presses expanded options for writers. And at the end of the day, YeahWrite’s community commitment to nurturing the best writing was no longer served by the grids we ran for ten years.

In 2021, we evolved one more time, shutting down the grids for good (or at least, until a user-friendly alternative comes along) and reorganizing our leadership team. Christine stepped up as YeahWrite’s Editor-in-Chief. She brings years of writing and organizational experience, of course, but more than that, she’s been one of our most ardent and enthusiastic team members since, well, it feels like forever. Arden took on the role of Executive Editor and Social Media Manager. And Rowan balances out the team in her continuing role as Managing Editor.

Change can be a bittersweet thing, but growth is part of our lives as people, as writers, and as a community. We were sad to say goodbye to the weekly grids, but the time had come to let them go and focus on the real needs of our community of writers. And we’re excited to move into this new phase of our evolution. See you there!