What to write

All day for two days I wanted to write something.  I didn’t know what, just that I hadn’t posted anything in a week and my six readers plus Mom must be getting antsy.  I thought about it while walking my dogs, washing dishes, before sleep.  Little things that had spoken to me kept speaking, but I had no stories to hang them on.  I considered different plot-generating topics: the crash-and-burn of this or that friendship, the car wreck, the various things I won’t write about while my parents are alive.  I sat down feeling blank on the third day and began to write a story about boxing and young love. The boxing class I once took had never crossed my mind during those days of thinking about What to Write, and the story surprised me as much as if someone else were writing it.

Along with the nuts-and-bolts of good writing habits (reading your work aloud, putting it down and coming back for a fresh look instead of immediately publishing, cutting a little more than you feel comfortable cutting, and reading aloud one more time), there’s magic.  Sometimes you get your butt in the chair and your hands on the keyboard and the story says, “Finally!  There you are!  I’ve been waiting long enough!”  

500 word limit for the next five weeks

It’s yeah write #100, y’all.  In spite of spring break, writer’s block, stubborn plots, the terrifying but excellence-generating new word count of 500, let’s write some good stories for each other.  Maybe the magic will show up.

Challenge grid

What you need for the challenge grid: a yeah write post of no more than 500 words that is not linked up anywhere else and the willingness to read up to forty-nine other non-double-linked yeah write posts. If you don’t know what “a yeah write post” is, you need some time to read our submission guidelines and FAQ. And some more time to come back and vote fairly for a crowd favorite on Thursday.  If fiction is your thing this week, head over to the speakeasy and yeah write editors Stacie and Courtenay will take good care of you.  Virgins, welcome! We’re glad to have you. 

Invitational grid

If the challenge grid reaches thirty posts, the best posts with the most compelling so whats will be moved by the yeah write editors onto the invitational grid, from which a jury prize will be selected. Please consult this checklist for hints about what makes, or doesn’t make, an invitational-worthy post. Invitational grid posts also remain on the challenge grid. 

Happy 2nd birthday, yeah write!

From yeah write #100 until yeah write #105, we will be celebrating the best yeah write has to offer: your writing, your friendship, your support. The editors are combing through 100 weeks of challenge grids to come up with a “best of yeah write” grid from 2011-2013, and we will showcase the selections during #104 and #105. If you’ve ever won a lurker’s favorite (remember those?), editor’s pick, crowd favorite or jury prize, start waiting anxiously by your mailbox. If you’ve made the “best of yeah write” grid, we’ll send you a “best of yeah write” badge to display on your blog and an invitation to stop by to read what the editors enjoyed about each of their selections.

For our birthday, you get presents

Starting today, we’re handing out thank you gifts to random participants both on the challenge grid and the speakeasy. For yeah write #100, one winner will receive a custom badge designed for his or her own space. If you don’t use sidebars or your blog design is already perfect, we will design it for another worthy project at your request. It’ll be yours to specify.

Another random winner will receive a copy of A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan donated by yeah write editor Stacie. More thank you gifts to come, including gift cards, web design elements and, of course, more books. Books are the new TV, you know.

All of this is our way of saying thanks for making yeah write the best place on the Interwebs for writers who blog and bloggers who write.

Odds, ends, reminders

• Your post can be no longer than 500 words
• Your post can be dated no earlier than March 10th, the day the yeah write #100 badges were officially posted
• The grid is open from Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. to Wednesday at 11:59 p.m.
• It is limited to 50 bloggers
• Voting will take place all day Thursday from midnight to Friday at midnight
• The winners’ post will be published at noon on Friday
• Our new weekend moonshine grid will open Friday at 6 p.m. and close Monday by 12:01 a.m. 
• No self-promotional posts are allowed on the yeah write grid, including those containing links to other blog events and Internet contests
• Combining your yeah write post with other blog events meant to maximize your exposure and minimize your effort is a no-no

Bring us your best stuff.  Yeah write #100 is open. . .

[hr]