Putting it off
I’ve had this intro open for five hours now and these are the first words I’ve put in it. A lot of us have felt lately (well, in the past literally a year) that our writing practice has suffered. Like it’s the thing we can put off. And in many cases, it is the thing that can be delayed, deferred, disused and neglected. (Your vocabulary word for the week is “desuetude” – the state of disrepair that comes from a long term of neglect and disuse.)
If you’re feeling like this, I have some good news for you. And it’s not some “you’re not alone” platitude; I’m as tired of those as you are. No, it’s that you’re still a writer. All the things you’re doing right now are story-fodder someday. Whether it’s an essay or a work of fiction or one perfect sentence, you’ll distill the important things out of the life you’re living and the experiences you’re having. Right now the thing you can do to nurture that is just not give up. You don’t have to write anything right now, but don’t stop thinking of ideas. Don’t stop having shower thoughts and jotting them down. If you’re really struggling with that, let your subconscious do the work and just keep a notepad by your bed and jot down images from your dreams. All of this will come together, and it will come easier one day. If you’re someone a daily practice works for, make it manageable: One sentence. One couplet. One character. One scenario. You don’t have to develop them into a story. All you’re doing is keeping that mental muscle from atrophying. If that feels exhausting to you? Don’t do it. You’ll be more resistant to a practice that’s forced or boring than you will to letting the words happen when they happen. If you’re the kind of person who needs an external push, pick a prompted anthology call or a competition and enter. It doesn’t have to be your best work! You just have to do it. Or find a writing partner and alternate characters to write an all-dialogue scene.
Like this intro, which is no longer sitting in my hundred thousand or so open tabs, when the time is right it’ll come to you. Trust yourself and your brain. Eventually you, too, will be able to hit “close tabs to the right.”
~Rowan
This Week’s Writing Prompt is:
LAST SENTENCE: [name or pronoun] didn’t know it yet, but [name or pronoun] hadn’t seen the last of [pronoun].
Examples:
- I didn’t know it yet, but I hadn’t seen the last of him.
- Noor didn’t know it yet, but she hadn’t seen the last of them.
- They didn’t know it yet, but they hadn’t seen the last of me.
- We didn’t know it yet, but we hadn’t seen the last of her.
Your job, should you choose to accept it, is to use this as the final sentence of your story or essay. It’s the last February prompt so we’re playing with one of the variants on a phrase prompt! Want some pointers on how to do this? We’ve gone into detail in this month’s Technique Toolbox on Navigating Prompts.
There are no word limits. You can write fiction or nonfiction; you may interpret the prompt any way you like. Share your response in the Coffeehouse, located both on Facebook or Discord, by linking your blog post, Google Doc, or other file. Check out your fellow YeahWriters’ responses, and don’t forget to leave them some love in the comments!
Looking for our weekly grids? After nearly ten years, they’ve been retired. Read more about the latest changes to YeahWrite in the #500 Weekly Writing Challenge Kickoff Post.
The Schedule
We will release a new prompt on our blog every Friday at 12pm Eastern.
Then it’s up to you! Write your response to the prompt on your own blog or website and share the link in the Coffeehouse, located both on Facebook or Discord. If you prefer to keep your work under wraps (and away from the eyes of potential publishers), you can still ask for beta readers in the Coffeehouse and share your work privately!
Every Monday, we’ll check in to see how you’re doing and what your writing goals are for the week.
Wednesdays are “Work-in-Progress Wednesdays.” Share a few sentences or even a paragraph or two in the Coffeehouse (no more than 250 words, please). Even if you’re not done writing, this could be the boost you need to stay motivated.
Did you publish a book? Do you have a story in a magazine? The First Friday of every month is for self-promotion, where you can share commercial links to your work for purchase. (You can always share the news that you’ve been accepted for publication, though!)
And of course, the entire community is here 24-7 to share your victories and setbacks, challenges and accomplishments. So come on in, pull up a chair, and say hello. We’re all writers here.
Upcoming and Ongoing
Sign up for our email blast so you don’t miss out on any upcoming classes, workshops, or competitions.
Ongoing: Navigating Prompts (Free Workshop)
Each month, we’ll talk you through how to analyze and respond to a specific prompt style. We’ll coordinate the weekly prompts with the monthly post so you’ll have a chance to practice, compare notes with other writers in the Coffeehouse, located both on Facebook or Discord, and get advice from beta readers and YeahWrite editors. You’ll get to hone your skills when you’re not in crisis mode, trying to meet that fast-approaching deadline. And who knows—maybe you’ll end up with a new story or two in your back pocket!
This month, we’ll be taking a look at one of our favorite prompt styles: the word, phrase, or sentence prompt. We use this prompt style in both our fiction and nonfiction Super Challenge competitions. It’s a great way to test a writer’s flexibility and attention to voice, nuance, and context. So how do you use it? February’s post will walk you through it. Check it out!
Super Challenge #19
Round 1 of Super Challenge #19 is over, and the judges are busy reading all the entries! Good luck to all our participants 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.
Super Challenge #20
Registration for Super Challenge #20 will open in early March! Our twentieth (!!) Super Challenge will be a flash fiction competition, and we hope you will join us. Want to be notified when registration opens? Make sure you sign up for our email blast.
About the author:
Rowan submitted exactly one piece of microfiction to YeahWrite before being consumed by the editorial darkside. She spent some time working hard as our Submissions Editor before becoming YeahWrite’s Managing Editor in 2016. She was a BlogHer Voice of the Year in 2017 for her work on intersectional feminism, but she suggests you find and follow WOC instead. In real life she’s been at various times an attorney, aerialist, professional knitter, artist, graphic designer (yes, they’re different things), editor, secretary, tailor, and martial artist. It bothers her vaguely that the preceding list isn’t alphabetized, but the Oxford comma makes up for it. She lives in Portlandia with a menagerie which includes at least one other human. She tells lies at textwall and uncomfortable truths at CrossKnit.
