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First day of school!

I hope you’re thinking of a tiny clownfish chanting this phrase, because every year since I first time heard Nemo trumpet this refrain in unabashed glee, I try to channel the same enthusiasm for the first day of school.

Which was this morning. At seven a.m. You heard me: Seven. A.M.

I have never taken a seven o’clock class in my life, and now I’m not only expected to think in the hours before rush hour traffic, but instruct others to do the same.

It was brutal. But only the waking-up part. The rest was rather blissful.

No traffic in sight. Gentle rays of sun casting shadows on the empty 605. Cool evening breeze lingering. Bright, shiny new pupils. Lots of coffee.

Yes, the enchantment of a new school year has cast its spell. The waking up part, I’ll be working on. And speaking of working on things, check out this week’s optional prompt:

How do we fix this?

The optional prompt above can serve as inspiration for your fiction or poetry. Use the question word for word in your story or poem, or just answer it. Problems existential and practical are both welcome. Already have a different story thought up? No problem! Use the prompt only if you need it.

We’ve gone unmoderated for the summer months. That doesn’t make it a free-for-all; posts still need to meet the minimum guidelines listed below, but it does give you some more room to get creative.

With a red pen, of course

We’re starting a new August focus on fiction and poetry slam, both inspired by this astronomical event. For this month’s focus on fiction, we’ll be turning people into dogs (or any other animal) with anthropomorphism. Where poetry’s concerned, we’ll be highlighting doggerel, a lazy form that doesn’t set too high of a bar for these sticky August days.

Still drawing a blank? You can also find writing exercises in the coffeehouse to get things started.

We’re also going to be going to Long Beach Comic Con September 12-13. Read all about yeah write’s first show on the road here.

Is this your first time here?

Check out Sunday’s post which kicked off the week here at yeah write. If you don’t think you can remember to check back every Sunday, sign up for our email blasts. We send them directly to your inbox. No fuss!

Yeah write #227 fiction|poetry writing challenge is open for submissions!

Basic yeah write guidelines: 750 word limit; your entry can be dated no earlier than this past Sunday; fiction or poetry only.

How to submit and fully participate in the challenge:

1. In the sidebar of this week’s post, please grab the code beneath the fiction|poetry 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

This summer all our grids are unmoderated, which means submissions meeting the basic guidelines will be published Thursday on yeah write. Those entries will be open to a popular vote with the winner celebrated on Friday.

Thank you for sharing with us your hard work! Good luck in the challenge…

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