The cake has been eaten, the confetti swept up, and the balloons disposed of in a sustainable, earth-friendly manner. That’s right, folks, the party is over and it’s back to business as usual. At yeah write, this means that the challenge grid will return to moderated submissions. Here’s a little summary for those of you who are new to these parts, or who need a refresher.

Our editors will review your submissions as they come in. We are looking for a few things in particular:

• Your post must be dated no earlier than the Sunday before the grid opens.
• Your post must be typo-free and use good grammar, spelling and punctuation, and should be no longer than 600 words.
• Your post must include the current challenge badge with the appropriate back-link to the current challenge post . (Scroll down to get your badges!)
• Your post must not include commercial content, including links to your own published works. (Links in the sidebar of your blog are fine, just not in the body of the post.)
• Your post must not be cross-posted to multiple link-ups or prompt sites. 

That’s the easy stuff. This is the hard part:

Not all submissions will make the grid. Please don’t be discouraged if you receive a love letter from the editors. We are looking for well-thought-out, well-constructed posts that tell a story; we are not looking to bruise feelings or discount personal experiences. We don’t automatically reject posts based on subject matter, differences in opinion, or stylistic preferences.  We do try to give you tips about where your post went astray and how you might consider revising it. If you don’t like our suggestions, that’s fine, and you can always link up your post on the moonshine grid.

Here are a couple of things to consider before submitting a post: Do you feel differently about your subject at the end of your post than you did at the beginning? Did your perspective change? Did you stick to a single, cohesive narrative, or are you telling more than one story? (Hint: tell one story at a time. Save the others for separate posts.) Did you start in the middle of the action, or did you wander around a while before getting to the point? 

Want more tips? Read our guide to writing a yeah write post.

Gargleblaster: this week’s ultimate question

Is everyone recovered from last week’s gargleblaster binge? Fabulous! Take a deep breath and get ready for the next round. This week’s ultimate question was provided by yeah write editor Michelle, who found it on page 42 of Broken Magic by author and yeah write alum Eric Sipple:

Do you see her much?

Let’s see how you answer this question in 42 words. Be creative! The grid opens Monday at midnight – hope to see you there.

Family-free month

Don’t forget: starting with yeah write #158, we’re family-free for four weeks. Kick your kids to the curb, ignore your spouses, and don’t call your parents. We want you to run away from home to see what else is out there. (Note: family-free does not apply to the moonshine grid. The moonshine grid is always rules-free!)

Get your badges!

To make it a little simpler for folks, we’re going to start putting the badges right here in the kick-off posts and grid posts. Here are the badges for yeah write challenge #157 and this week’s gargleblaster. Copy the code under the appropriate badge and paste it into the html or text view of your blog editor. Having trouble? Contact christine@yeahwrite.me for tech support.

<a href="https://yeahwrite.me/challenge-157/"><img src="https://yeahwrite.me/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/challenge157.png"></a>

<a href="https://yeahwrite.me/gargleblaster-157/"><img src="https://yeahwrite.me/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/gargle157.png"></a>

 New to yeah write?

Welcome! This is a special kind of place, and we hope you will dive right in. If this is one of your first visits to yeah write, please take a look at our page detailing how yeah write works. If you’re having trouble figuring it all out, feel free to email us, and we’ll help get you started along your way. We think this is the best community on the web for writers who blog and bloggers who write. We’re thrilled to have you join us.