Promptly
One of the reasons I know I would make a terrible parent is that I cannot stop myself from annoying kids. They’re like little straight line factories. For example, one of the kids in my life is playing some Facebook game where they draw a thing and you’re supposed to guess what it is, and your “team” gets more points the fewer guesses you make. Today this child sent me a drawing of a baseball. Was it a good drawing? Well no, it’s a drawing by a kid on a tablet with their finger. But the thing is clearly a baseball. It’s round(ish), it’s kind of white (the background is white, so it’s light grey), and it’s got two curved lines of stitching on it. Baseball. Maybe a softball, but this kid isn’t very sportsy and the odds are much higher that it’s a baseball.
So of course I guessed “potato that has been in a really bad accident and is getting decent hospital care because they have high quality insurance.”
That’s annoying, right? I would be annoyed. But also I can’t help myself. I know this about me and it’s part of why I gravitate to prompts that are genres, or feelings, or first lines, or something that I won’t automatically try to joke my way out of. Because there’s a time and a place for potatoes with auto insurance, and there’s a time to settle down, center the prompt, and write the story that it’s actually trying to get you to write.
Which one are you? A potato writer or a baseball writer? There’s room for both, but you should know what’s expected of you before you hit submit on that anthology piece!
~Rowan
This Week’s Writing Prompt is:
Combination prompt: Historical fiction, Detective story
This week, your job, should you choose to accept it, is to write a story or essay combining the above genres. Stuck? We’ve gone into detail about unraveling element-based genres like these in last year’s prompts workshop.
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!
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!
In February we’re discussing what you can do before you start writing to make your or your editor’s life easier later. Whether you’re a plotter or a pantser, you can save time, money, and a million headaches. Want to find out how? Come take a look!
This month’s meeting took place on Sunday, February 13. Miss out? Sign up for a membership today to automatically receive the Zoom link and password. One-off meetings can also be purchased closer to next month’s meeting.
At YeahWrite we believe information wants to be shared. If you can’t afford to join us for society meetings, we post the recording about a week later, and you’re welcome to leave the tip you can afford (even if that’s just a nice thank you comment). Check out our YouTube channel for more.
Super Challenge #23 - Flash Creative Nonfiction
The opening round of Super Challenge #23 is officially underway! Good luck to all our participants as they anxiously await the results. Did you miss out on registration? 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]
Spontaneous Writing Challenges
Looking for a bit of inspiration? Missing the grids? Then join the Coffeehouse on Discord (where the stories are made up and the points don’t matter) and head to the #spontaneous-challenge channel. Each day, anyone can post a micro writing challenge (but just one per day!). Share your responses within the thread and earn XP within the server. We hope to see you there!
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.
