Hurry up and wait.

I love the first day of November. It’s the day the gates open and thousands of writers around the world storm onto the novel-writing racetrack for NaNoWriMo or NaBloPoMo after expending so much time prepping and outlining. It’s the day hope lingers and creative energy clouds the autumn air. But how do those valiant racers maintain their energy for 29 more days?

My answer? Yeah write. We give deadlines for challenges and offer feedback and support. We give prompts and more prompts and a community of writers to lean on. But I’m probably preaching to the choir here. So I guess I’ll change my answer to caffeine…

caffeine and cool ranch Doritos.

However you kept up your stride this week, we can’t wait to read what you bring us. Remember to read the submission guidelines before you press post or hit send, especially if you are new around here. (Welcome!) Have a favorite yeah writer or two? Why not ask them to be your writing partner? Everyone needs another set of eyes to point out the typos, content errors, and ungainly phraseologies in our posts. Stop by the coffeehouse and meet some of the people behind the words!

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Yeah write super challenge for fictioneers!

The second round of the fiction super challenge is over, and the judges are busily reading your entries. In the meantime, read some of the round 1 entries over on the super challenge announcements page. Round two winners will be posted this week!

Prompt up!

Prompt up is our optional weekly writing prompt for the fiction|poetry challenge! Here’s how it works: we choose a sentence prompt from last week’s winning nonfiction post and announce it in the kickoff. It’s your job to use that prompt in your poem or story and then run with it. The prompt is just a springboard, though: feel free to use it as your first sentence, move it, change it, or float down it to other territories.

Rowan remembers the moment when she stopped caring in her essay, Out of Fucks for Titles. This week’s prompt up is: “It might be the best thing to ever happen to you.”

Check out November’s new features!

Ready for a new poetry slam form? Yeah, I couldn’t wait, so here’s my first try: Just like in a flute of prosecco, echo poems tend to bubble up.

Have you ever held back from posting an essay because you were afraid it might hurt someone’s feelings? You’re not the first. This month’s Nonfiction Know-How tells you what you need to know to decide whether or not to go for it.

Yeah write #290 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 challenge grid 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

Submissions for this week’s challenges will close on Wednesday at 10pm ET. Voting will then open immediately thereafter and close on Thursday at 10pm ET. The winners, as always, will be celebrated on Friday.