Just Deserts
Yeah, it’s from ‘deserve’ and not ‘dessert’ so that’s how it’s spelled, but I’m taking this as ‘pun intended’ because I’m spending this week fishing in the desert. Yes, fishing. Because deserts don’t look like you probably think they do.
This is another reason I strongly encourage everyone to look at the landscape they’re writing in. If you can’t visit the setting of your story, get as close as you can. Soak it up. Is the sun unrelenting? What does the land smell like? What kind of bugs are there? If you make assumptions that where you live is what everywhere is like, you’ll be wrong, and your readers won’t stay engaged. What’s it like where you live, and what would you tell someone setting a story there? Tell us in the Coffeehouse!
~Rowan
This Week’s Writing Prompt is:
write a story set where this picture is.
[image: a low, circular, grey stone wall perhaps 60 cm tall and 120cm in diameter. The camera angle does not permit the viewer to see down into the circle of stone to tell if there’s anything in it. The image is cropped so that the only landscape feature visible is some sparse low grass.]
This week, your job, should you choose to accept it, is to write a story or essay using the above image. Stuck? We’ve gone into detail about unraveling this sort of prompt style in this Technique Toolbox post on setting 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!
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!
Whether as a writer or an editor, there are going to be things that you just aren’t positioned to catch in a story or essay: harmful tropes, outdated assumptions, or unexamined stereotypes. That’s where sensitivity readers come in. Check out our July post, where we have interviewed a panel of expert sensitivity readers to get the scoop on what they do and why, and then join us Monday, July 11 at 6pm US Pacific/9pm US Eastern time for a live panel discussion.
Last month’s meeting was Sunday, June 12. The recording has been posted to our YouTube channel! Sign up for a membership today to automatically receive the Zoom link and password for July’s meeting. One-off meeting tickets can also be purchased on Kofi.
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 #24 - Flash Fiction
Congratulations to the winners of Super Challenge #24:
First Place
Alyssa Beatty: The Almost America
Second Place
Kate Goodheart: Anchorage
Third Place
Jessica Vergara: Dear Dr. Dodo
Honorable Mentions:
C.A. Raine: Industrious Endeavours
Kristen Ray: Breathing Space
We hope you had as much fun writing as we did reading!
Super Challenge #25 - Microfiction
Registration is open for our summer microfiction challenge! This is a one-round MICROfiction competition with all the bells and whistles you’ve come to expect from our contests: fun, unique prompts; feedback on every entry; and cash prizes! We hope you’ll join us. Sign up for our email blast today so you don’t miss any important Super Challenge announcements.
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 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.
