I Hate Surprises

If I’m being honest, what I really hate is the anticipation of surprises. Like, when someone says to me, “I got you the BEST present and I can’t wait to give it to you for your birthday in 3 weeks!” Ugh. That means for 3 weeks I will worry about liking the surprise enough. I much prefer when someone just surprises me without warning.

So when organizations announce they have big plans in the works and to stand by, I find that super annoying. That’s why I’m not going to tell you that I just got off a planning call with the team and we are cooking up some good stuff behind the scenes. I’m really excited, but I’m not going to give you that anxiety-provoking anticipation that I despise.

Welcome to Week 355

We’re kicking off the week in style at YeahWrite with both our competitive challenge grids in one post, plus prompts, tips, tricks and more. You asked, we answered! Keep scrolling down cause it’s all right here.

Submissions for this week’s challenges open on Monday at 12 midnight and close on Wednesday at 10pm ET. Voting will then open immediately thereafter and close on Thursday at 10pm ET. The winners, as always, will be celebrated on Friday.

Having trouble getting started? Hop on over to our quick guide. And don’t forget to doublecheck the full submission guidelines before you hit that button.

Looking For Microprose?

Our tiniest challenge with the biggest bang is open the first Wednesday of every month from midnight to 10 p.m.

Nonfiction Challenge

Surprise Me Instead!

I love surprises so I’ll take Michelle’s any time. Only if it’s a gift though. I don’t really like surprise adventures or parties. I’m too much of a planner for those. You know what would be an awesome surprise this week? A full nonfiction grid of course! Been away for a while? Come back! We’ve missed you! Too shy to post? Don’t worry, we don’t bite! We love grid virgins! Currently a grid junkie? We love seeing you week after week! Don’t take a break now! The more the merrier, so what are you waiting for? Surprise me!

Technique Toolbox

New year, new look: we’ve revamped the old Nonfiction Know-how to include our fictioneers. We’re kicking the year off with a bang, too! We know you’ve sworn to write more this year, and that you’re combing the ‘net for inspiration. But how do you acknowledge those linkups, prompts, and accountability buddies without losing your reader’s interest? Rowan has some ideas for you right here.

Nonfiction challenge grid:

Basic YeahWrite guidelines: 750 word limit; your entry can be dated no earlier than this past Sunday; nonfiction personal or persuasive essay, creative opinion piece or mostly true story based on actual events.

Check the submission guidelines for our full set of rules. If you’re not sure how to link up, hop over to our quick tutorial for getting started at YeahWrite! Otherwise, click that blue button when the challenge is open, and good luck! Come back to vote starting Wednesday at 10pm, and check out our winners on Friday!

Fiction|Poetry Challenge

Apples To Oranges

Hopefully as you’ve been reading and voting on the grids these past few weeks you’ve noticed how hard it is to vote on your favorites. That’s how I’ve felt the last two years judging the Fiction Superchallenges. It’s not easy to rank the writing of different authors. All of the pieces have so many good things going on. How do you decide which story is best? In many cases, the deciding factor comes down to how well the writer used the mandatory prompts. Please keep that in mind as you write for the grids [or other prompt-based competitions!]

January Poetry Slam: Erasure

Out with the old, in with the new. Or rather, let’s make something old into something new this month, as Rowan teaches us to experiment with erasure poems. These no-meter no-rhyme poems are made by deleting words from an existing text. Rowan’s even got some fun ideas for how to show the difference between the original text and your poem. Won’t you join us?

Prompt Up!

Prompt Up is our weekly writing prompt for the fiction|poetry challenge! Here’s how it works:

For Fiction

• there will be two prompts each week: a prompt generated by the YeahWrite editors and a prompt generated by a previous winner of the fiction|poetry challenge. That’s right! Winners decide one of the prompts! If you’re a crowd fave winner on the fiction|poetry grid, keep an eye out for an email from us. If we don’t hear back from you by the deadline, we’ll pick our own prompt, and what fun is that? Generally, winners will decide the prompt for the challenge two after the one they won (so 349 picks 351, and so forth).
• the two prompts are MANDATORY for flash fiction submissions.
• the two prompt styles will vary month to month; they may include emotions, specific words, a specific sentence, genres, photographs, etc. There is no limit to how we can change it up.
• the prompts will be posted in the kick-off on Sunday. Submissions will be accepted through Wednesday at 10pm EST (same as before). Everyone will have a little less than 4 days to write and edit a story.
• YeahWrite editors reserve the right to alter the winner’s prompt. We’ll give you some suggestions for what makes a prompt inspiring and functional, but we’ve noticed that some work better than others, and if we think folks will struggle with yours, we might need to tweak it.

For Poetry

• You’ll need to incorporate at least one of the three possible prompts. Each fiction prompt counts as a single prompt, and the poetry slam counts as a prompt.
• This means you can write poetry about one of the two fiction prompts, in any form you like, or about anything you like, using the form given in that month’s poetry slam.
• Yes, you can use more than one of our prompts in your poem!

We’re very excited about our new challenge, and we hope you are, too!

The first prompt is: include a character whose occupation is veterinarian.

The second prompt, from YeahWrite #353 fiction|poetry winner Asha, is: your story must contain the following sentence: “The child began to hum.”

Poets: post poems that include a veterinarian, the prompt sentence above, or post an erasure poem.

Fiction|poetry challenge grid:

Basic YeahWrite guidelines: 750 word limit; your entry can be dated no earlier than this past Sunday; fiction or poetry only.

Check the submission guidelines for our full set of rules. If you’re not sure how to link up, hop over to our quick tutorial for getting started at YeahWrite! Otherwise, click that blue button when the challenge is open, and good luck! Come back to vote starting Wednesday at 10pm, and check out our winners on Friday!

YeahWrite Super Challenge

The first round of Super Challenge #7 is currently underway! Good luck to all our participants as they furiously finish their essays. Did you miss out on registration? Make sure you sign up for our email blast so you don’t miss out on any announcements for the next Super Challenge.

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 last Friday’s winners’ post. Leave the winners some love in the comments. They will love you right back, we guarantee it.

Last call: This week’s Weekend Writing Showcase is still open for business until the challenge grids start at midnight! 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.