Let it burn

It’s been a while since I’ve shared an essay from Brevity to inspire you. As I was combing through my inbox this weekend I found one that resonated with me so much that I felt I couldn’t be alone. I suspect that envy is something many of us are faced with in our writing careers. For some of us, it might be a blog award, an accolade from the editors here at yeah write, or for those of us with larger works (in progress or otherwise), a publishing contract or interest from an agent. To see others get what we want is hard.

This post written by Alison K. Williams for Brevity gets to the heart of that. I want  you to read it so I’m not going to tell you the whole thing. Rest assured that if you are green with envy, you are not alone. Also bear in mind though that often those who are achieving great success or are further in their career are there for a reason: they’ve done work you haven’t done yet. (Please note, when I say you, I mean me because I’m quite guilty of envy myself lately). The other thing to keep in mind, that envy is useful to all of us. Ms. Williams urges us to let that feeling burn inside of us and spur us on toward our own successes.

I can’t argue with her logic.

First time here?

Yesterday’s kickoff post tells you everything you need to know about all of yeah write. We tell you about the schedule, upcoming events and get you ready for the week ahead.

Have questions you can’t find the answer to by poking around the site? Email us or find us on Facebook or Twitter and we’ll happily help you out.

Just the basics

Don’t skip over that link to yesterday’s kickoff post. There is valuable information in there!

Today the grid opens for our nonfiction writing challenge. There is a limit of 500 words plus 100 words grace. The nonfiction challenge closes Wednesday at 9:59 p.m. US Eastern. Voting opens one hour later for both our readers and our editorial staff. On Friday, we will publish editorial picks and announce the popular vote winner.

The ultimate question: what’s that in the shadows?

Each Wednesday our microstories challenge opens tasking you to answer the week’s ultimate question in exactly 42 words. This same question pulls double duty as an optional prompt for this nonfiction challenge and our fiction|poetry challenge which opens on Tuesday. If you’re stuck on what to write about, maybe roll that question around in your brain a bit and see if it can knock something loose.

The yeah write #199 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.