Lazy days
I’ll admit it; I haven’t been writing much. I’ve been editing like crazy, but I haven’t been writing. I like editing just fine, but editing and writing activate different parts of my brain. I may get a great deal of satisfaction from improving something I’ve written, but it’s nothing like the feeling of a day spent creating. (I call it “book-drunk.”)
This time of year, it’s hard to find the time to sit down and create. School vacations, travel plans, and long, sultry days drain away time and energy both. That’s when microprose is the perfect solution. You don’t need to sit down for a long block of time; you can wrestle with a short piece on the bus or in the line for ice cream. And when it’s tweaked and polished, you can post it here!
Feeling hot, hot, hot
It was close to 100 degrees Farenheit in Florida last week, where I was visiting my dad. That’s about 38 Celsius to the non-US population, and it’s hot enough to make anyone’s brain melt a little. Now that I’m back in more temperate climes, I’m challenging you to give me a story in exactly 38 words that incorporates heat without using any variation of the following words: heat, hot, sweat, burn, swelter.
A few rules:
- I’m talking actual heat here – high temperatures – not figurative heat. A smoldering glance is all well and good, but unless it’s in the middle of an inferno, it doesn’t count.
- No variations of the listed words are allowed. That is, “burn,” “burned,” “burns,” and “burning” are all out (but “sunburn” is okay). Using one of the listed words could get you disqualified.
That’s it! Good luck on the grids!
This is the badge you need:
Below is the YeahWrite badge you need for this month’s microprose challenge. Under the badge is a few lines of code. See that? Copy it and then paste it into the “text” or HTML view of your post editor. If you don’t copy it exactly, the image will not appear correctly in your post, and you will receive an error message when you submit the post to Inlinkz. If you have any questions regarding adding this code to your post or website, please contact us at editors@yeahwrite.me.
Need a hand?
Microprose sounds easy. After all, how hard can it really be to write a story with fewer than 100 words incorporating a prompt or two? But it turns out it’s our hardest challenge to really get right. Whether you’re a seasoned micropro or a brand new microwriter, it’s worth taking a minute to glance through the tips and tricks our editors have put together, like this quick refresher on what makes a micro great, or this one on how to incorporate mandatory prompts into adjudicated challenges. Make sure you make it to the vote this week: check your wordcount (we count those footnotes!) and prompts!
The microprose challenge ends in:
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How to submit and fully participate in the Microprose Challenge
Basic YeahWrite guidelines: must be in response to the prompt found in the introductory post, i.e. must incorporate heat without using any of the above-listed words; your entry can be dated no earlier than Wednesday, July 4; nonfiction, fiction, whatever, but not poetry, told in exactly 38 words. You may enter only one microstory per weekly challenge.
How to submit and fully participate in the challenge:
- Please grab the code beneath the microprose badge in the body of this week’s post and paste it into the HTML view of your entry;
- Follow the Inlinkz instructions after clicking “add your link” to upload your entry to this week’s challenge grid;
- Your entry should appear immediately on the grid if you don’t receive an error message;
- Please make the rounds to read all the entries in this week’s challenge; and
- 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.
Thank you for sharing with us your hard work! Good luck in the challenge…
Loading InLinkz ...About the author:
Christine Hanolsy is a (primarily) science fiction and fantasy writer who simply cannot resist a love story. She joined the YeahWrite team in 2014 as the microstory editor and stepped into the role of Editor-In-Chief in 2020. Christine was a 2015 BlogHer Voices of the Year award recipient and Community Keynote speaker for her YeahWrite essay, “Rights and Privileges.” Her short fiction has been published in a number of anthologies and periodicals and her creative nonfiction at Dead Housekeeping and in the Timberline Review. Outside of YeahWrite, Christine’s past roles have included Russian language scholar, composer, interpreter, and general cat herder. Find her online at christinehanolsy.com.
