Sore Muscles
For our winter gifts, my partner and I gave each other (yeah I know, it doesn’t make fiscal sense, but it’s about emotional things ok?) a month with a powerlifting coach. With the Omicron variant spreading like summer wildfires and Delta having a bit of a renaissance where we are, it seemed reasonable to stay away from classes or group activities for a while, even in our small, fully vaxxed and masked gym. On the other hand, I’ve spent the last two years figuring out exactly how much of my mental health is dependent on having a reliable consistent stream of endorphins. Spoilers: almost all of it? Who knew? So working out in an empty gym during reserved hours seemed like exactly what we needed. Anyway I promise I’m getting to the part where this is a metaphor for writing.
Working with a coach has been amazing. It’s wonderful having someone else do all the thinking for a while. And the stuff our coach programs in is designed to explore and exploit the edges of what we can do, strengthen stabilizers, build bulk in places we don’t have it, and so forth. We’ve been pretty universally lucky in the coaches we’ve worked with, in that almost all of them have respected that we both have old injuries that need to be worked around (the ones that can’t respect that aren’t safe, and if you have a coach right now that’s pushing you past “I don’t think I can do this” then ok, that can be a good relationship, but “I don’t think I should do this, it hurts with bad-pain” is a hard limit. if your coach is telling you to go there, get a second opinion). So for the first time in a long time, some weird muscles are sore. The cool thing is, our programming respects that and doesn’t overwork them the next day.
Here’s the writing metaphor. Your creating muscles can get sore, too. And sometimes you need someone else to take away the additional stress of planning what to create, or the pressure to do a lot of creating. If your creating muscle is sore, I’m adding some alternatives to this week’s prompt. See if you can get out one sentence, even if you don’t have a whole story in you. Flex a little. Stretch. You’ll be back in the writing gym soon enough, if you respect your limits and let yourself heal up.
~Rowan
This Week’s Writing Prompt is:
Character description: Your character has callused hands. Their clothing is elaborately made of expensive materials. They do not have shoes. In their [satchel/purse/backpack] they have three books and a strange device.
This week, your job, should you choose to accept it, is to write a story or essay featuring the described character. Stuck? We’ve gone into detail about unraveling this sort of prompt style in this Technique Toolbox post on character prompts.
There are no word limits. You can write fiction or nonfiction; you may interpret the prompt any way you like, but you must use it exactly as written. 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!
Sore muscles? Try these exercises instead of writing a story:
- What does your character say back to someone who says “I don’t care for your face?”
- Your character is at the entrance to a city. A local asks “how far did you come to get here?”
- The books explain what the device does. Has your character noticed this yet? Why or why not?
- How does this character wear their hair (if they have any)?
- Name one occupation this character might have besides “yoga instructor” – defend your answer.
- What kind of pet does this character have? Or why don’t they have a pet?
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: Scarlet Quill Society (Free Workshop w/ Optional Paid Benefits)
Welcome to the secret back room where the Scarlet Quill Society meets. In this year-long workshop, the YeahWrite editors will help you hone your own editing skills so that you can feel confident that the work you are submitting is at its absolute best. We’re experimenting a little with our workshop format in 2022, and offering a couple add-ons to our always-free posts that we think you’ll find exciting and worth a few bucks a month: The Scarlet Quill Society will have actual face-to-face (okay, virtual) monthly meetings to delve into the topics and answer your questions, and an editorial backroom on Discord!
January’s topic: Editorial roles
What are the different kinds of editors? What do they do, and how do you ask for one? What can you do yourself, and what should you get help with? We cover it all. Check out the post! Don’t forget to come back after the third Sunday of the month to see the recorded club meeting! This month, Rowan answered some questions still lingering about editorial roles. And she didn’t swear once, we’re so proud of her.
Super Challenge #23 - Flash Creative Nonfiction
Super Challenge #23 is now open for registration through February 9! Join us for one of the best competitinos for creative NONfiction and personal essays out there. You’ll get a unique and (we hope) interesting essay prompt, tons of great feedback, and you may even win cash prizes! Sign up for our email blast to get notified when registration opens, or keep an eye on our website.
WIP Write-Ins, AKA Co-Working Hours
Last summer, you all joined the YeahWrite editors (and writers like you) for a series of laid-back, low-key co-working sessions. We chatted, we brainstormed, we got to know one another, and arguably most importantly, we wrote actual words! Once summer ended, we weren’t ready for co-working to disappear like the hot weather, so starting in October, co-working is back!
Join Christine every Wednesday from 9:00am – 11:00am Pacific Time and Arden every other Friday from 12:00 – 2:00pm Pacific Time for regular WIP Write-ins. Other sessions will be scheduled in the future, so keep an eye on our calendar and we’ll be sure to post announcements of pop-up sessions in our Discord and Facebook groups. See you there!
[Ed’s note: if you add that calendar to your own Google calendar, it’ll change the times to match your time zone automagically. No more searching “what time is 9am Pacific in Warsaw?” You’re welcome. /RBG]
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.
