Reimagine yourself
Last week was my final week at a college for which I had been working nearly 15 years. I start my new job soon. I will meet new colleagues, make new friends, write grants for a different college—the same work but dressed up in a whole new wardrobe. I am reimagining my life.
Sure, change is scary. It is also reinvigorating, jolting you out of your daily experience and forcing you to adapt your skills and stir your imagination. I tell you this because I want to encourage you to reimagine yourself. Yeah write is kicking off its second super challenge—this one focused on flash fiction—and it’s the perfect opportunity for you to try something new, stretch yourself, take some risks. The super challenge kicks off October 7th. You can save on your registration by signing up before September 30th. Reimagine yourself writing. More info below!
Yeah write super challenge #2
Did you hear the big news? The next super challenge for all you fictioneers out there is now open for early registration until September 30! Read up on all you need to know here. We are so excited to get this one started and hope you are too!
The basics
Yeah write gives you two competitive challenge grids — nonfiction and fiction|poetry — both of which are unmoderated. Everyone gets to the voting round on Thursday. (Remember, your post must be dated appropriately, not be offensive to our audience, and cannot be over word count.) Got a question? E-mail us, tweet us, ping us on Facebook, or visit our online community, the yeah write coffeehouse. You can learn more about yeah write in our FAQ. Please make sure you are familiar with our submission guidelines before you enter. We don’t have a lot of rules, but we do enforce them across the board. We’d hate to see anyone get disqualified by a technicality.
Bring us your personal essays and creative nonfiction!
The nonfiction challenge grid opens on Monday at midnight EST. This is the best place on the ‘net to showcase your best writing. Make us laugh, make us cry, make us think, and above all: make us care.
Nonfiction know-how: brevity
For this month’s nonfiction know-how we’re going to focus on two conflicting aphorisms. The first is “winners never quit; quitters never win” and the second is “quit while you’re ahead.” We’re not talking about quitting writing entirely, of course, but we’re talking about knowing when to stop, and how much is enough. This month, Rowan offers up some advice on how to know when enough is enough.
Is fiction more your thing?
The fiction|poetry grid opens on Tuesday. Grab a mic and join our monthly poetry slam or check out our weekly prompt up!
Prompt up!
Prompt up is our optional weekly writing prompt for the fiction|poetry challenge! Here’s how it works: we choose a sentence prompt from last week’s winning nonfiction post and announce it in the kickoff. It’s your job to use that prompt as the first sentence in your poem or story and then run with it. The prompt is just a springboard, though: feel free to keep it as your first sentence, move it, change it, or float down it to other territories.
Lisa confessed she sometimes wants to burn it all down in her essay Just Me? This week’s prompt up taken from her work is: I’m (clearly) doing something wrong.
September poetry slam: triolet
For the return of the poetry slam, let’s pull out all the stops and work on a short form called the triolet. Even though there are only eight lines in a triolet, it’s a great chance to work on rhyme, scansion, and even picking out a good refrain. Because it’s been a while since you wrote a poem, Rowan will take a minute for a quick refresher on how rhyme and scansion work. If you’re already the most iambic poet that ever sonneted a villanelle, skip it, and get to work!
Winners’ round-up
In case you missed them, you can find last week’s yeah write staff picks and crowd favorites all laid out for you on Friday’s winners’ post. Leave the winners some love in the comments. They will love you right back, we guarantee it.
Weekend writing showcase
The weekend’s not over: the moonshine grid is still open. Have something to add? Old posts and new are welcome. No moderation, no voting. It’s a laid-back relaxed kind of place. Just leave your commercial or sponsored posts at home. Drop by, share your work, and while you’re there, visit your fellow yeah writers.
