Here’s a Random Question

Last week was Migraine Week here at YeahWrite. A bunch of us had them. I’m personally on Day 5 myself. I’d tell you the exact percentage of editors with migraines this week, but that’s a lot of mathing, and I just don’t have it in me. As a chronic migraine sufferer, I have many opportunities to study the effects they have on my creativity. One thing I’ve always found surprising is that, during and immediately after, I find myself often flooded with ideas. Unfortunately, I also find I’m not able to always put my words in the correct order, so my notes from that period are pretty fun to translate after the fact.

So, I’m curious: When you’re sick – any kind of sick – how does that change your writing? Are the ideas flowing? Can you even act on them? Or do you just veg out and binge Netflix?

It’s a Microprose Week!

On the first Wednesday of each month, we host a Microprose Challenge. The prompt will go live at 12:00 AM Eastern and you’ll have 22 hours to write. We’ll give you a word count and an idea (maybe a question, a picture, a phrase – you never know!) and you’ll be writing a short little story. The Microprose Challenge won’t open until Wednesday, so be sure to check back then and join in the fun!

YeahWrite Super Challenge

Round 2 of our fifth Super Challenge is officially underway! Good luck to all of our contestants as they furiously finish their essays for submission! Did you miss out on registration? Sign up for our email blast so you don’t miss out on any announcements for our Super Challenge #6. Next time, we head back to the land of fiction!

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.

We’ve got challenges on our brain this month as we move toward the end of YeahWrite’s 5th Super Challenge (nonfiction, y’all), so this month we’ve got two writing help posts inspired by our challenge work. They’ll go live August 1, but we’ll give you a little tease now. While you wait, you can check out the Writing Help Archive.

Nonfiction Know-How: Persuasive Essay

Creative nonfiction isn’t just your personal mostly-true stories. You can also use your powers to teach and persuade readers. Learn how to share your wisdom and lessons about life in a persuasive essay that’s more fun to read than that Grade 8 essay question answer in this month’s Nonfiction Know-How.

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.

This week’s prompt up comes from Margaret at Unfolding From the Fog. Your prompt, should you choose to accept it, is: “There is a drought coming.”

August Poetry Slam: Prompts

We’re wrapping up our summer break with a break from poetry and looking forward to our next Super Challenge as Rowan breaks down what a prompt is and how to use it from the other side of the judging table. Looking for ideas? She’ll even throw in some prompts at the end to stretch your brain.

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.

About the author:

Michelle submitted her first entry to YeahWrite in March 2012 and they haven’t been able to get rid of her since. After nearly 20 years in the insurance/employee benefits industry, she decided to give it all up to pursue writing full time. Her work has been featured on The Huffington Post and xoJane, as well as several local sites near her northern NJ home. She blogs at Michelle Longo.