Ready for another challenge?
We are less than two weeks away from kicking off the first ever fiction-based super challenge. We had so much fun with our first one and cannot wait to see what stories you bring us this time. If you’re interested in signing up (and come on, who wouldn’t be?), then make sure you do so before 11:59pm ET this Friday, September 30 so you can take advantage of our discounted rate. All you need to know about the super challenge, you can find here. Have any questions? Email us at superchallenge@yeahwrite.me. Good luck!
Who’s on fourth
This month we invite you to learn more about our fearless leader, the wonderful Michelle! The interview will publish Monday at 12pm ET, but in the meantime, head over to her page and catch up on all of her awesomeness.
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.
Kay told us how her Februarys got a little Kung-Fu magic added to them. This week’s prompt up, taken from her essay is: A crowd gathered.
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.
