By the Time You Read This
As I write this, it’s Wednesday and I’m sitting at my desk in my office where I always am when I write these. But if you’re reading this on Sunday, the day it’s published, I’ll be somewhere between Illinois and Nebraska. Any later and I’ll be somewhere more west of Nebraska. I know I keep telling you about my move but honestly, a cross-country move is all-consuming. When I write next week’s intro, I’ll be sitting in my new office in my new home in Los Angeles and I really hope the wifi is up in time.
While I’m tending to my utilities, go write something!
Welcome to Week 381
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.
Microprose Challenge Opens Wednesday
This week has the first Wednesday of the month, and you know what that means: our tiniest challenge will be open for under 24 hours, starting Wednesday at midnight! Every microprose challenge has different rules, so you’ll need to keep your eyes peeled and your fingers fast. Need a quick link to the challenge? This one goes live when the microprose grid opens.
Micro weeks are moderated weeks!
That’s right – with the microprose grid comes moderation on all three grids. That means that on any grid with more than five entries, we’ll be looking for more than just the bare minimum required to meet the submission guidelines. We want to see your best writing, with a strong so-what on the nonfiction grid and smooth prompt integration on the fiction|poetry grid. We’ll also be checking adherence to the poetry slam form, and keeping an eye out for persistent grammar issues in your work. That doesn’t mean you need to write the way your eighth grade English teacher told you, though! That would be pretty boring. Voice is the way in which a writer breaks the rules of grammar deliberately to advance a point. So break the rules – but do it on purpose and know which rule you’re breaking.
It’s not as scary as it sounds! If your writing is struggling in a moderated week, one of our editors will send you a “love letter” explaining where you lost us and making a few editing suggestions. We won’t move you forward to the vote, but you’ll get specific, personal feedback on your writing. And don’t worry. All of our editors have gotten at least one “love letter” on a post too!
So what are we looking for?
- Posts for the nonfiction grid should be anecdotes that contain one clear idea, the reason for telling the story. More than a journal entry, submissions are required to have what we refer to as a “so what.” Posts can also be personal or persuasive essays that give your perspective on the world and communicate a clear idea to the reader. All nonfiction challenge posts must adhere to the basic rules of grammar and punctuation.
- Posts for the fiction|poetry challenge must be self-contained stories or poetry. Chapters or ongoing work can be submitted so long as the submission tells a complete story and does not require knowledge or understanding of the remainder of the work in order to read the individual submission that week.
- Poetry must be structurally sound within the rules of the form chosen; that is, a sonnet must follow the form of a sonnet and not have errors in rhyme and scansion.
- Posts for the microprose grid must adhere to the microprose rules laid out in that month’s challenge.
- And of course, all the ordinary submission guidelines like word count still apply!
Nonfiction Challenge
Things Change
I moved across the country eight years ago so I know what Michelle is going through and believe me, it’s not fun. BUT at least she gets to live in my beloved California! At some point, I hope to be back there too. Change is hard, but look at it from a writer’s perspective: stories! Do you have a mostly-true story you’d like to post on the nonfiction grid this week? No prompts are required, but if you’d like to write about a change, go for it! Or if you’d prefer a different prompt, feel free to ask in the YeahWrite Coffeehouse on Facebook. Happy Writing!
Technique Toolbox: Writing About Writing (Part III)
Ready to start reading critically, and learning how to describe what you see when you do read? Check out Part III of our vocabulary and skill-building critique series in this month’s Technique Toolbox! This month we’ll dive into substantive issues: the stuff that’s frustrating to read, how to spot big problems and plot holes, and a few gentle ways to break that news to the author who trusted you with a work they care a lot about in its current form.
Nonfiction Challenge Grid: Basic YeahWrite Guidelines
Loading InLinkz ...Fiction|Poetry Challenge
Refilling the Well
Sometimes it’s good to take a step back and take stock. We writers are constantly drawing from our pool of creativity when we’re engaged in our craft. What happens when we use up all of our ideas? How do we generate new ones?
My advice? Pursue other interests. Give yourself permission to not be writing for a set amount of time. Go hiking, visit a museum, attend a concert or a play. Use those experiences to fuel your next writing hurricane. So, to follow my own advice, I’m taking a few weeks off to lounge near a lake. Have a good August!
July Poetry Slam: Chant
Same old, same old. But the same old can be brand new when you read it in a different context. This month we’re exploring chants, a kind of singsong poetry with a line that stays the same and keeps changing, depending on where you read it in the poem. Join us!
Prompt Up!
Prompt Up is our mandatory weekly writing prompt for the fiction|poetry challenge! Here's How It Works!
For those of you who appreciate a looser prompt, July is the month for you! This month we’re only giving a setting prompt to frame your story around. However, more than half of your story MUST take place at this location. Characters, plot, genre, voice are all up to you!
The prompt, from YeahWrite #379 fiction|poetry winner Katie, is: a confined space.*
*This is where I’m going to tell you a little secret. I like writing to more than one prompt. So I will probably Google “random prompt generator” and give myself a second one, but that’s just me. Shhh! No one needs to know.
Poets: Write a poem set in a confined space or write a chant (or combine the two).
Fiction|Poetry Challenge Grid: Basic YeahWrite Guidelines
Loading InLinkz ...YeahWrite Super Challenge
The second round of Super Challenge #9 (nonfiction) is officially 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 Super Challenge announcements.
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 YeahWriters.
YeahWrite in the Wild
You read their words every week, but it's not often you get to see the people behind those words. Browse through our gallery and see if you can spot regular contributors or editors.
If you'd like to be featured in the gallery, simply head over to our Swag shop, make your purchase, then when it arrives send us a photo of you in/with your YeahWrite swag to editors@yeahwrite.me.
About the author:
Michelle submitted her first entry to YeahWrite in March 2012 and was brought on staff shortly thereafter. Over the years, Michelle has been an integral figure at YeahWrite, but in 2016, we were thrilled to have her step into the role of Editor-In-Chief. Personally, she has worked in the insurance/employee benefits industry for over twenty years and also fills her time as a freelance writer. 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.
