Polishing Up
It’s that time of year again. Vacation time! For the past 11 years, I’ve spent the last week of July with my college friends and our families at a resort in northern Michigan. This year, we’re expecting over 35 people! We make community dinners, play games, swim and hike and tube and water ski. We spend hours on sand dunes building castles, and we watch every sunset together on the pier. We also rent out a rolling skating rink and play “how-low-can-you-go” for a while. The kids love to be better at getting smaller than the adults. We all sing to the soundtrack we listen to as we skate. It’s good to return to the present moment for a while.
But it also means detaching myself from computers and wifis, which means I won’t be around. I took a few more weeks off after my vacation to focus on polishing up some work and submit it places. So I’ll talk to y’all in September.
-Nate
Welcome to Week 433
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 Saturday 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.
Technique Toolbox: Year of Fearless Writing – So… what do you write?
Ready to take yourself seriously as a writer? Not sure how, or not convinced you’re ready? We think you can, and are, and will be. This year is our Year of Fearless Writing, where we’re going to focus on the craft of writing, not the art, to take you from “I write” to “I’m a writer.”
In July we’re helping you answer the dreaded question “so what do you write?” Learn how to talk about your work quickly and concisely while keeping your listener (or potential agent) excited to hear more. We’ll delve into summaries this month, from a quick elevator speech to how you put together a more formal “this is what’s in my book” pitch. So… what DO you write?
Nonfiction: Optional Prompt
The nonfiction grid has no mandatory prompts. However, each week, we will give you an optional prompt in case that helps your mostly-true story juices flow. This week, we want to hear about a verbal tic, yours or someone else’s. Do you say “hi” repeatedly in a conversation when you don’t know what to say? Does it drive you nuts when someone says “like” and you’re not sure how to tell them? Tell us instead.
Fiction|Poetry Mandatory Prompt
It’s July and we’re just past the half-way point in the year! This month we’re bringing you two mandatory prompts; a photograph and an emotion.
The photo prompt is this image by Jared Rice at Unsplash. You can access a downloadable version of the photo by clicking on it.
The emotion prompt, from YeahWrite #431 fiction|poetry winner Kim Witbeck, is: disdain (you can find a definition here). Remember not to use the emotion prompt itself in your story. Instead, try to convey a sense of the emotion in other ways; show, don’t tell.
Poets: Meet the newest Poet Laureate of the US, explore a metaphor, and try your hand at a longer poem this month with our poetry slam. Or you can use the photo prompt, or write a poem conveying the emotion prompt above. Pick at least one of those three available prompts and you’re good to go!
Everyone: Need to brush up on your poetry critique? Check out our guide.
Poetry Slam - Meet Joy Harjo
We’re excited to feature the US’s first Native American poet laureate for this month’s slam. Explore how Joy Harjo’s poem “She Had Some Horses” works, and write your own longform poem in (at least) two cantos exploring metaphor through Harjo’s lens. You’ll learn to employ a couple different poetic techniques, plus get a chance to use your favorite form. Join us!
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Our tiniest challenge with the biggest bang is open the first Wednesday of every month from midnight to 10 p.m.
YeahWrite Super Challenge
Super Challenge #13 (nonfiction!) is officially underway! Good luck to all our participants as they furiously finish their essays. 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.
About the author:
As a professional editor and writer, Nate has published his work in numerous English and history textbooks and in online reading programs. In February 2014, he found his way back to creative writing and began submitting to YeahWrite. Soon after, he became an editor of the Fiction|Poetry challenge. You can read his work at northwest journals, a blog that has been recognized by WordPress Discover, Five Star Mix-tape, Genealogy á la Carte, The Drabble, and BlogHer’s Voice of the Year. He lives in Chicago with his partner and a mini-Bengal tiger.
