It’s all about the process

I just finished folding laundry. My son’s pajama shirt, the green one with the glow-in-the-dark dinosaur bones, was sitting in a ball in the basket. Somehow, upon exiting the shirt one morning this week, my son managed to get the entire body tucked up and twisted inside the left sleeve. I didn’t notice it when I first loaded the washer. After untangling, I was left with a wrinkled mess, still partially damp from improper drying. I set the shirt aside; when it’s dry I will straighten it out and then tuck it away, neatly folded, inside a drawer.

And isn’t our writing just like that? One of our most important phrases inexplicably gets all tucked up inside a sleeve and in the extrication process it becomes a wrinkled, damp mess. But after it sits alone and dries, with a little bit of straightening, you can fold that phrase up and put it right in where it goes with the other phrases and no one is ever the wiser.

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Just the basics

Today the grid opens for our nonfiction writing challenge. There is a limit of 500 words plus 100 words grace. You must tell a compelling story. If we get bored or can’t figure out what’s going on, you’ll get a nicely detailed note from our submissions editor explaining where we fell off. You can rewrite it, rework it and workshop it. We’ll be happy to read it again in a few weeks.

The nonfiction challenge closes Wednesday at 9:59 p.m. US eastern. If your entry is accepted, our editors will move you over to the invitational grid open to voting both by our readers and our editorial staff. On Friday, we will publish editorial picks and announce the popular vote winner.

The ultimate question: when did our elephants leave?

We know some of our writers like to have a prompt to get them going for the week. Others plan their submissions weeks in advance and may save this prompt in their little treasure boxes of ideas to use when they need them. Still others are the fly-by-the-seat-of-the-pants types, writing about whatever strikes them in the moment. Here on the nonfiction challenge you’re all welcome because there is no mandatory prompt.

Feel free to use the ultimate question as an optional prompt. Or don’t. Your call.

Fall season writing contest coming November 2

Two weeks to go! With no mandatory prompt on the nonfiction challenge, I hope you’re already starting to put your submission(s) together. Behind the scenes, the editorial staff is busy getting everything ready for you, including some incredible prizes. Stay tuned!

The yeah write #184 weekly writing challenge is open for nonfiction: personal essays, creative opinion, mostly true stories based on actual events. You can check out the submission guidelines and join us with your essay using the link below.