Are Routines the Answer?
Since up-ending my entire life a few months ago, I’ve found that every routine I had has fallen apart. I go to the grocery store almost every day. I don’t leave the house for work anymore, so sometimes I don’t get dressed until I have to pick my son up from school. Because I don’t have a full-time job anymore where someone tells me when to work, I’m finding it hard to fully arrange my days so everything gets done. It’s a process for sure.
So I’ve been asking myself, where does personal writing fit into this routine? How do I bring that daily habit back when there’s no immediate deadline and no one is paying me for my work (yet – I have to have hope, right?). Do you have a writing routine? What is it and how is it working out? Tell us in comments or start a conversation in the Coffehouse!
Welcome to Week 391
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
One Tiny Pumpkin
Hey, folks, Rowan here filling in for Stacie while she’s away in wine country. Meanwhile I’m home in whine country, because my pumpkin patch is underproducing. I had delusions of grandeur this year when I planted three varieties of pumpkin, zucchini, acorn squash, brussels sprouts, horseradish, and broccoli. I have one tiny pumpkin that I can hold in the palm of my hand. That’s it. Ashflies got the sprouts and broccols. I don’t know what the heck is wrong with the zucchini, but I’m mad I didn’t make fried squash blossom when I had the chance. And the pumpkins? Don’t ask. At this rate I’ll resort to renting a child from my sister and taking it to the pumpkin patch. I don’t really care which one (kidding, I want the big one, the little one is still too loud and too prone to pooping randomly). What could have gone righter for you this year? Let us know on the nonfiction grid. Or give me some @!#$@# hope and tell me about something that turned out okay for you. Or a pumpkin story. I’m always up for fall. IT’S THE BEST SEASON AND I WILL FIGHT YOU.
Technique Toolbox: The Joyride
Bored? Tired? Can’t figure out who your characters are and what they want? Try taking them out for a joyride in an alternate univers. What would your main character do if everything was the same except the setting? And don’t worry, nonfictioneers, this month’s Technique Toolbox has you covered too, with some tips for how to reframe your personal essays!
Nonfiction Challenge Grid: Basic YeahWrite Guidelines
Loading InLinkz ...Fiction|Poetry Challenge
If It Wasn’t For Last Minutes…
When my kids were small and I was forever trying to meet too many deadlines at the same time, another mother said to me, “if it wasn’t for last minutes, I’d never get anything done!” At the time I thought she was hilarious, and her statement felt like an intimate reading of my life with small children. Things haven’t changed much since then, and I realise that last minutes are where I usually live.
Despite being inspired and excited by September’s Fiction|Poetry prompts, I only made it to the grids once. Of course, it was the last grid for the month. And of course, I made it on at the last minute. October sees a whole new pair of prompts, and they promise to be just as exciting and creative as September’s. I’m hoping to make it onto the grids a few more times this month. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
October Poetry Slam: The Pitch
One of the best ways to learn to write poetry is to read the work of established poets and see what they’re doing. Danez Smith just became the youngest-ever winner of the Forward poetry prize, so this month we’ll be spending a little time with one of their poems, PITCH FOR A MOVIE: LION KING IN THE HOOD deconstructing what makes it work and trying to write our own pitch-style poem. Join us!
Prompt Up!
Prompt Up is our mandatory weekly writing prompts for the fiction|poetry challenge! Here's How It Works!
It’s October and we’ve got two brand new prompts for you. The first prompt is a mandatory line of dialogue that can be used anywhere in your story. Your job is to match your writing to it. If they use a word or phrase you would never use, then create a writing style that would use that phrase. Just like September’s opening line prompt, the dialogue prompt should be incorporated smoothly and naturally.
The first prompt, from YeahWrite #389 fiction|poetry winner Nate, is: “Why did you scream like that?”
The second prompt is a theme prompt. The theme is not the plot, it isn’t the rise and fall of action, it’s a more general sense of what the story is about. For example, the theme of Kate Chopin’s 1892 short story, Désirée’s Baby is that racism and racial purity are not the measure of a person.
The second prompt, from the YeahWrite editors, is: Countdown to disaster.
Poets: Write a poem using the line of dialogue somewhere in your work, or write a poem incorporating the theme, or write a poem in this month’s poetry slam form, The Pitch.
Fiction|Poetry Challenge Grid: Basic YeahWrite Guidelines
Loading InLinkz ...YeahWrite Super Challenge
Super Challenge #10 (fiction) is officially underway! Good look to our first round contestants as they anxiously await the results. 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.
