Flash Your Badge
Badges are ready which means today is the earliest your yeah write #94 weekly writing challenge grid posts can be dated.
Challenge v. Speakeasy
The grids open Tuesday, and the challenge grid is where we want to see your personal essays and traditional blog anecdotes. Choose moments and stories that will show off your writer’s voice. Submit your fiction and poetry over at the speakeasy. If the speakeasy gets at least 10 submissions linked-up, the participants will be eligible to win a $25 Amazon gift card. Just in time for ordering some Tamiflu! Find a yeah write virgin to coax into the safe haven of the speakeasy, and Flood will donate custom photography for your blog. And there’s really nothing like a photo customized to cozy into your blog like a…snuggie. You’ve all seen the creative images Flood uses to make reality brighter, right? Find those virginal writers!
Open submissions
The process of open submissions has permanently returned to yeah write. There is no longer a moderation queue, but all submission guidelines and FAQ still apply. Watch your dates, and be careful not to include self-promotional contests – no matter how fun! You can write want you want as long as it has a tightly written introduction, a clearly defined story line, and doesn’t try to sell us something or bore us to death. We haven’t had a lot of sex scenes lately. Not that I’m suggesting that, just saying. A few people have asked about finding topics. We know it seems like some people lead the most hysterical, high-falutin, how does all that nutty stuff keep happening to her lives. And for some people, it’s true. But for most, it has to do with finding the funny or unusual or poignant in the mundane. Writing well about everyday life is the challenge of the challenge grid.
Before you start your winning submission
So we’ve had suggestions to stop reading blogs that aren’t written by those who are well-read, and there was the pummeling of Less is More into your virtual brain. (There’s an irony in there somewhere.) And today’s tip is to use your mind’s eye to get down and dirty with a moment. Just one. The winning submission last week was, at its core, about just one or two sentences. The author then created a story for which those two sentences became the climax. Start with the climax, and work backwards. Is your story about the anticipation of the moment or the moment itself? Unless you’re Dr. Frank-N-Furter or Carly Simon, it’s usually the moment itself. Focus on making the climax all it can be. Shave away anything you don’t need. (Not a yeah write endorsement for Brazilian Waxes.)
And it bears repeating: Check for spelling and its/it’s and there/their/they’re sort of silliness.
Make this week your most excellent yet! Bring us your best stuff; don’t settle for less.
Read well, write well, rewrite often. Yeah write #94 weekly writing challenge grid opens Tuesday.
