A few of my favorite things
No, it’s not raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens. OK the kittens thing maybe. I don’t have a cat problem, and I’m not a cat lady, I swear. But besides kittens, what I love is feedback from our judges that goes like this:
- Every story had such a distinctive voice!
- Are we encouraging these writers to publish? We are, right?
- I can see why these writers made the short list.
- This was one of my favorite groups to read since I started judging.
- There were so many engaging stories!
- This was picaresque, right? Because I would read more stories set in these worlds with these characters, no problem.
We hope you’re taking this additional feedback to heart and starting to think about polishing your story up for publication even if you didn’t get that sweet cash money this time. We hope you’ve also had fun, because in the words of a girl named Molly in the year 2001, if it’s not fun, don’t do it. AS ALWAYS, anything that went right is entirely due to our admin team’s untiring work behind the scenes, and anything you hate (yes, including the prompt) is probably my fault. Unless it’s your feedback, because hating feedback for a month or two and then sighing and working with it is every writer’s prerogative and destiny.
But speaking of sweet cash money….
I’ll quit chattering. I know why you’re here. You want to know who earned themselves a nice little present this holiday season. So with no further ado, here we go:
First Place
$200
MM Schreier
The Things I’ll Do for Bacon
Second Place
$150
Jess Filippi
What People Want
Third Place
$100
Katie Battaglia Delay
Captain Alana Gets the Good Stuff
Honorable Mention:
- C.A. Raine – Just the Routine
- Jessica Wilcox – Rescue Mission
Runners-up:
(in alphabetical order)
- KPF
- Melissa Mendelson
- Aeiris Sweven
Congratulations again to everyone who entered. Hopefully you’re finding your feedback useful and relevant! If you’re mad at your feedback right now, try walking away from it. Everything about your story is fresh and feels personal, and that’s a hard time to hear feedback. Set a reminder and look at it again in a month or so, or get a trusted reader to help you make the connections or see if it’s fair, even if you don’t like it or disagree with a decision or suggestion. In the meantime…
Wait, wait, there’s more!
Writers, if you don’t have your feedback, please send us an email at superchallenge@yeahwrite.me, ’cause that email should have reached you on Wednesday.
Now that this round of the competition is over, you’re free to post your work anywhere on the Internet you like, or take our judges’ suggestions and rework your submission to send on to other venues.
About the author:
Rowan submitted exactly one piece of microfiction to YeahWrite before being consumed by the editorial darkside. She spent some time working hard as our Submissions Editor before becoming YeahWrite’s Managing Editor in 2016. She was a BlogHer Voice of the Year in 2017 for her work on intersectional feminism, but she suggests you find and follow WOC instead. In real life she’s been at various times an attorney, aerialist, professional knitter, artist, graphic designer (yes, they’re different things), editor, secretary, tailor, and martial artist. It bothers her vaguely that the preceding list isn’t alphabetized, but the Oxford comma makes up for it. She lives in Portlandia with a menagerie which includes at least one other human. She tells lies at textwall and uncomfortable truths at CrossKnit.
