Time for School!
School is back in session here in my little corner of SoCal. I’m proud of myself for resisting the urge to buy a thousand new notebooks and all of the colorful Post-Its. For me, the first day of school is tantamount to January 1. In fact, I think I like it better because schools are (obviously) open, unlike on New Year’s Day, AND the notebooks and Post-Its will still be on sale for another few weeks when I begin to regret my decision to skip them previously. I wonder how many notebooks and Post-Its it would take to finish all these projects I’m working on. I should probably go pick up some to find out.
-Michelle
Welcome to Week 436
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 – Pitch Perfect
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 August we’re beginning to put the pieces of the puzzle together, looking at how you assemble “this is who I am and what I write” into a tempting pitch or query for editors and agents. Not even sure what pitching means and how to do it? Stop by!
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. Rather than a subject this week, we’re taking a page from the fiction|poetry grid and our Super Challenge and offering you a sentence to incorporate. You can take us up on that by using the complete sentence anywhere in your story, or use the sentence to give you a topic idea, or do your own thing! The sentence is:
I can’t wait for you to meet him.
Fiction|Poetry Mandatory Prompt
It’s August, and while it’s not quite back-to-school we’re getting back to work on the fiction|poetry grid.
This month we’ll have two mandatory prompts: an occupation and the first sentence of your story.
You must use our prompt sentence as the first sentence of your story. No changing tenses or punctuation, although you can add quotes around it to make it a line of dialogue.
One (or more) characters in your story must have the occupation, but it doesn’t have to be the main or point of view character.
Stories that make the prompts integral to the story and use them naturally will be favored by the editors. Hint: You may have to change up your writing style to become an author that would write the opening sentence. We encourage that!
This week’s occupation prompt, from YeahWrite #434 winner, Lisa, is : tour guide.
This week’s first sentence prompt, from YeahWrite editors, is: So I suppose you want to ask me why I left town.
Poets: It’s back to brevity for August with the sevenling. Write this three-stanza, seven-line poem, or write a poem in the form of your choice starting with our first line or featuring the occupation prompt. At least one of these three things is mandatory! But remember, our nonfiction grid also welcomes poetry that expresses your truth.
Poetry Slam - Sevenlings
August’s poetry slam returns to a short form, with strict requirements but not a required meter or rhyme. The sevenling has three stanzas and seven lines, each of which works to affect the meaning of the others. Come play in the sevenling sandbox with us as summer (or winter) draws to an end.
A QUICK NOTE REGARDING OUR GRIDS: Inlinkz, which supports our grid format, is currently upgrading its offerings and website which can sometimes result in a glitch or two. If you upload a piece to the grid and notice it disappears later on, please email us and let us know. This has been happening to one or two pieces each week. We will happily add it manually once we are notified. We apologize for the inconvenience. Thank you for your patience!
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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 final round submissions. 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:
Michelle submitted her first entry to YeahWrite in March 2012 and was brought on staff shortly thereafter. In 2016, she stepped into the role of Editor-In-Chief. Outside of YeahWrite, she is a freelance writer working with a variety of corporate clients, primarily in the insurance and employee benefits space. Her work has been featured on The Huffington Post, Cosplay Culture, and xoJane, as well as several local websites near her former home in northern NJ home. She now lives in Southern California, enjoying the sunshine. She sometimes blogs at themichellelongo.com.
