Hey, how is your holiday going?
Thanks for taking the time out of your celebration to check in with us on yeah write voting day! If this is just a normal day for you, we also appreciate your hanging out with us. We have about 20 blogs on the challenge grid for you to read, about that many over at the speakeasy and, if you’re feeling super into blogs today, about 100 on the NaBloPoMo challenge grid (filled with bloggers who’ve been writing for about 30 days straight).
Let’s get to voting.
Voting by spreadsheet makes us more critical readers and better writers
We occasionally pause the click click clicking of the voting icons on the thumbnails and ask our voters to measure each entry by specific criteria. It helps put us all back on the same page as the yeah write mission of becoming better writers, readers and editors. Thanksgiving Week, already light on entries, is a good time to reintroduce the concept, and here we are. Doin’ some mathin’ as we are reading.
One point for each “yes” answer:
- Does the post have a central conflict? What’s the revving engine moving the story forward? If the story just sits there, then ends, it doesn’t have a central conflict. If it reads like a listing of events, it doesn’t have a central conflict.
- Is the central conflict, the “so what,” clearly written? The reader shouldn’t have to assume author intent or what the author is trying to say.
- Is the clear idea introduced early? It shouldn’t be dropped into the story like a drug bust at 3 a.m. or tucked inside a closet somewhere.
- Is the beginning of the story engaging and inviting?
- Does the post show the author’s passion for the subject?
- Does the author write creatively without using clichés and trite phrases?
- Does the author take care to properly transition new ideas and subjects within the post? It shouldn’t read like numerous, disconnected stories disguised as one narrative.
- Is the story tightly told without digressions or superfluous adjectives and adverbs? Sunshine yellow, bright yellow and really really yellow are all yellow.
- Does the post have a strong ending supporting the author’s original reason for telling the story?
- Does the author write in what seemed to be his or her authentic voice? It shouldn’t sound forced.
- Is the post free of spelling and grammar errors? Seriously. Is it?
- Does the post follow the submission guidelines? Word count, prompt (if mandatory), current topic or theme (if provided)
Then we add them up for a score based on the yeah write guidelines, called a YWG
[unordered_list style=”arrow”]
- 12 points: The author meets all of the criteria for a winning yeah write submission
- 10-11: The author meets most of the criteria for a winning yeah write submission
- 7-9: The author meets more than half of the criteria for a yeah write submission
- 6 points: The author meets half of the criteria for a winning yeah write submission
- 3-5: The author meets few of the criteria for a winning yeah write submission
- 0-2: The author does not meet the criteria for a winning yeah write submission
[/unordered_list]
The yeah write editors and a few readers will decide the crowd favorite this week
If you’re one of those readers, download the spreadsheet if you haven’t already, and go through each entry. Email Erica M with your completed spreadsheet by 10 p.m. US eastern time. If you’re on the challenge grid and you are voting, please score your own entry. This is not the same as voting for yourself on our normal voting day; it’s evaluating your entry against our submission guidelines, something you should be doing each week anyway when you’re being awesome.
Winners announced Friday.
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