So What’re You Gonna Do?
You’ve heard the advice about getting out of your comfort zone to help your writing. We all know that submitting work opens you up to rejection, and that alone can be enough of a deterrent. It’s hard to find time to write. Life gets in the way even when you have the time. Your brain is spinning. There are so many reasons not to do it. But there’s one good reason to do it: You love it. You’re a writer. It’s in your soul.
I’m the queen of excuses. I don’t so much bail on things as I find reasons not to even commit to them. I can talk myself out of things like a champ. But this week, just this morning in fact, I submitted some work to a local reading event in the hopes I could participate. I might not get in, and I’m beyond nervous about the whole thing. What finally made me hit the send button? I happened to see the fortune cookie I have taped to my white board for just this purpose. It reads, “It is better to attempt to do something great and fail than to attempt to do nothing and succeed.”
Isn’t that the truth? Your turn. Go do something. Be daring.
YeahWrite Super Challenge
The second round of Super Challenge #4 is officially underway! Good luck to all of our contestants as they finish up their submissions today. If you missed out on registration for this particular challenge, be sure to sign up for our email blast so you don’t miss out on any announcements for upcoming challenges.
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: Saving your darlings
Reading someone else’s journal (unless the entry is about you) is about as exciting as looking at photos of a vacation to a place you’ve never been and didn’t want to go. But our journals are an important record of our lives, and as nonfiction writers we need that record to tell our stories. If you’ve ever wondered what to do with your old journal entries, or wanted to turn them into the kind of stories a reader wants to know more about, Rowan’s got some tips for you right here.
Is fiction more your thing?
The Fiction|Poetry Challenge 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 it down to other territories.
Cindy celebrated a milestone this week in her post Two Hikes, Two Years. The Prompt Up taken from her essay is: “No more. I’m done.”
May ‘Poetry’ Slam: Constructive Criticism
Writing poetry is great, but reading it is better… right up until you’re asked to give feedback. This month instead of trying out a new form, Rowan gives us her hints and tips about what makes poetry poetry, how to read it, and how to offer feedback that’s more useful than “I thought it was pretty.”
Winners’ Round-Up
In case you missed them, you can find last week’s YeahWrite 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.
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