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Death by 4th grade biography project
My kid has to write a report about Nelson Mandela and then make an absurd poster where he will cut out holes for his face and arms and then “become” Mr. Mandela to present his report. My kid does not like this type of project and, frankly, neither do I. It’s not going well so far.
The biggest stumbling block for my kid is that he gets caught up thinking about how he’ll present this before he’s thought about writing the report or creating the poster. He freaks out because he doesn’t know how to get from start to finish. The lesson I’m trying to teach him is that the final steps become far more clear as he gets closer. He’ll figure out how to design the poster after he’s gathered the facts and written the report. He’ll know how to present it when he knows what he has to work with. (Incidentally, this was all written in the instructions.)
As I was recovering from our last work session, it hit me. Writing is like this. You can’t have a finished product until you work each step – character development, plot, structure, etc. – and see them through. Worrying that your end result isn’t good enough before you’ve put in the proper effort is only going to leave you with heartbreak.
And, as usual, when I say you, I mean me, too. Don’t we all get caught up looking at the forest and not the trees? Don’t we psych ourselves out by getting overwhelmed? It’s easy to do. So take a deep breath and get back to work – just start at the beginning and not the end, okay?
Yeah write super challenge
The first round of super challenge #3 is currently underway! Good luck to all of our participants as they await the results. Did you miss out on registration? Sign up for our email blast so you don’t miss out on any announcements.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
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.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
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: editing
This month’s nonfiction know-how is a little bit of a throwback. We’ve spent a lot of time lately talking about how to get writing that appeals to your audience onto the page; for Valentine’s Day we’re going to remind you how to show your writing a little additional love. Editing. It’s a task that makes the best of us cringe. We’ve talked about it before, and this month Cindy and Rowan are going to walk you through some specifics with the nonfiction posts and roundups. So what is editing, anyway, and how is it different from writing? Learn more from Rowan here.
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 announce a sentence prompt from last week’s winning nonfiction Post. It’s your job to use that prompt in your story or poem in some way. Feel free to use it as your first sentence, move it somewhere else, change it, or float down it to other territories.
Hema celebrated a milestone with us in her post, 9 Years Later. This week’s prompt up taken from her essay is: “The fever had raised its hood again.”
February poetry slam: the memoriam stanza
Now that we spent the last month learning about couplets, let’s take February’s post to the next level. For this month’s poetry slam, we’ll be taking everything we learned about writing in tight spaces and applying it to the four-line memoriam stanza. Learn more from Rowan here.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
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 yeah write weekend writing showcase 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.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
