All work and no play
Sure, it’s an aphorism, but there’s definitely a kernel of truth to it. When your writing starts to feel more like work and less like play, maybe it’s time to take a breather. Take a half hour and write something completely different. Try out a poem. Put your characters in a new situation—go all out on humor or angst or whatever makes your heart happy. You don’t have to use it; all you need is a chance to regain some of the joy that writing gives you. In the words of the immortal Ben and Jerry (here’s another aphorism for you): if it’s not fun, why do it?
~Christine
This Week’s Writing Prompt is:
A ramshackle playground
Your job, should you choose to accept it, is to write a story or essay utilizing this setting. It doesn’t have to be the only setting, but something important to your narrative arc should happen here. You also need to describe this setting well enough that a reader can recognize it in the story. Stuck? 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 - Setting Prompts (Free Workshop)
In our monthly Navigating Prompts series, 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!
In August, we’re taking a second look at setting prompts, this time as descriptive prompts. Descriptive setting prompts tend to be brief sentences or phrases that give you a sense of a time and place. We’ll deconstruct the different types of information you might be given, talk about what is and isn’t fair game (and what’s mandatory) to add to those descriptions, and give you some examples of how the same setting prompt can be taken to wildly different, er, places. Check it out!
Super Challenge #21 - Nonfiction
Super Challenge #21 kicks off on Friday, August 6! Good luck to all our participants in the first round. Miss out on registration? Be sure to sign up for our email blast so that you don’t miss out on any Super Challenge announcements.
Summer Co-working!
This summer, join YeahWrite editors and writers for a series of laid-back, low-key co-working sessions. We hold 1-2 hosted Zoom calls every week, with an eye to time zones so that everyone will have a chance to particpate. We’ll have a little time to say hello and socialize, and then we’ll buckle down to work on writing (or writing-related) projects. Working on a short story or novel? Updating your author website or scheduling out some social media posts? Or maybe you’re just organizing your writing space. Whatever it is, we’re here for it, and we hope you will be too. Details and a calendar are already available; note that we’ll likely add or adjust sessions based on writers’ and editors’ availability so make sure you doublecheck the calendar on our webpage, or add the Google calendar to your own by clicking on any coworking session on the page (which has the added advantage of automagically adjusting to your own time zone!). Learn more here!
About the author:
Christine Hanolsy is a (primarily) science fiction and fantasy writer who simply cannot resist a love story. She joined the YeahWrite team in 2014 as the microstory editor and stepped into the role of Editor-In-Chief in 2020. Christine was a 2015 BlogHer Voices of the Year award recipient and Community Keynote speaker for her YeahWrite essay, “Rights and Privileges.” Her short fiction has been published in a number of anthologies and periodicals and her creative nonfiction at Dead Housekeeping and in the Timberline Review. Outside of YeahWrite, Christine’s past roles have included Russian language scholar, composer, interpreter, and general cat herder. Find her online at christinehanolsy.com.
