If you want to learn, teach

When the world was young and dinosaurs roamed the Earth (only ever so slightly hyperbolic), I did a teaching degree. I didn’t really know what I was doing, but I was eager and energetic and young. I didn’t teach in schools for very long — I never really found my stride — but I did land a job teaching at a university. I loved it. I had students that ranged in age from the freshly minted high school student, to the mature-aged student who came back to do a degree after living a whole life. My students were kind, and challenging, and enthusiastic about learning. As much as I might have taught them, they taught me. Both about my subject areas (ohhh, the amount of research I did to ensure they were getting a quality education!) and about teaching itself. Over the years I’ve floated in and out of teaching in some capacity (including brief periods of home schooling my own children), but over the last seven or eight years I’ve done very little classroom work. Till yesterday. Yesterday, I had the great good fortune to deliver an in-person class on creative non-fiction to adult learners, and it was thrilling. I felt the same rush of excitement at imparting what I know, at showing students/participants tips and tricks, at sharing their perspectives and viewpoints that I’d felt all those years ago when lecturing. I had fun. I was inspired. And now I have a flood of ideas for my own writing.

So this week, I’m challenging you to change your perspective and learn something (about yourself, your subject area, or something new) by teaching someone a skill. See what you learn from the process and how you can incorporate that learning into your own writing. Go on, you know you want to give it a go!

~Asha

[**music plays in the background** I’ll be teaching y’all about line editing and the repetitive tricks that can creep into your writing on Sunday at 11 PDT/2EDT at this month’s Scarlet Quill Society meeting! /RBG]

Welcome to Week #583

Here’s where you’ll find everything you need to get yourself ready to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard)! Use our prompts—or don’t—and share links to your essays, stories, and poems in the Coffeehouse, located both on Facebook or Discord.

This Week’s Writing Prompt is:

Second person Point of View

This week, your job, should you choose to accept it, is to shift your perspective and write a story or essay using the second person Point of View. Stuck? We’ve gone into detail about unraveling this sort of prompt style in this Technique Toolbox post on Point of View.

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

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About the author:

Asha lives near the beach in Perth, Western Australia, but hates sand between her toes. She began blogging at YeahWrite in October 2014 with this post, and YeahWrite was lucky to pull her on board as a Contributing Editor in December 2016. Asha writes flash fiction, short stories, and creative nonfiction. She is published in a variety of places and you can find links to her work at Asha Rajan Writer.

asha@yeahwrite.me