Summer Time (and the living is decidedly not easy)
As summer creeps ever closer, I can’t help but be jealous of kids being released out of school for a few months of freedom from responsibility and homework. As a kid, I couldn’t wait to grow up, and now I realize what a massive mistake that was! As I grow older, I realize there is just one thing I need to be able to enjoy and do all of the things I love: more time. And yet that is the one thing I get less and less of each year. I’m not sure how we’re expected to make a living, have a family, spend time with friends, take care of our house, take care of ourselves, and THEN somehow find time to enjoy a hobby or calling such as writing. And yet, we find ways to do just that as best we can, right? Because it’s those hobbies and callings that make life worth living, even if it’s something that only gets a fraction of your time.
So how do you squeeze your favorite things into a busy life? How do you ensure that each day contains even just the tiniest bit of your creative needs? Hit us up in Discord and let us know.
~Arden Ruth
This Week’s Writing Prompt is:
This week, your job, should you choose to accept it, is to write a story, essay, or poem incorporating the following prompt:
Trope: Right Behind Me
We’re taking a cue from this year’s Scarlet Quill Society and getting some practice incorporating – or subverting – popular tropes. This week we’re using a technique that comes straight out of my nightmares (see also, waving back to someone when they were actually waving to someone behind you (just kill me)). The Right Behind Me trope is simple. A character decides to talk shit vent about another character when–insert suspenseful theme music–the person that is the subject of their frustrations arrives behind them and hears the whole thing! Oh, the horror. When you’ve got your story down, come tell us about it! Share snippets of or links to your best story in Discord or on Facebook! Stuck? Check out last year’s — no, year before last! — series on responding to prompts!
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.
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, we’ll be focusing on tropes! Love ’em or hate ’em, you can’t avoid ’em. For the purpose of this year’s workshop, we’re defining a trope as a building block of storytelling. It’s a device or pattern of events that is used to solve plot or character problems or communicate meaning efficiently and effectively. Check out June’s post, in which we take a look at tropes every submissions editor hopes never to see again, and then hop over to our YouTube channel to see the recording of our conversation with submissions reader (and frequent Super Challenge judge!) Genevra Hsu.
Scarlet Quill Society workshop posts are always free. In addition, we are offering a couple add-ons that we think you’ll find exciting and worth a few bucks a month: face-to-face (okay, virtual) monthly gatherings to delve into the topics and answer your questions, and an editorial backroom on Discord! And for a bonus, if you’re a paid SQS member and you can’t make it to a meeting, you can still send us questions beforehand and we’ll make sure to cover them.
Sign up for a membership today to join the Scarlet Quill Society and automatically receive the Zoom link and password for every meeting. One-off monthly 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 #28 (Fiction)
YeahWrite’s Super Challenge #28 (flash fiction) is officially underway! Good luck to all our remaining participants as they anxiously await the final results. Don’t want to miss out on all the fun? Be sure to sign up for our mailing list so you don’t miss out on any future Super Challenge updates.
WIP Write-Ins, AKA Co-Working Hours
NOTE: NO WIP WRITE-IN ON MAY 17!
Spontaneous Writing Challenges
About the author:
Behind the scenes, Arden is currently working on the first novel of her Fated Paths trilogy. She also published a number of short stories and a fantasy anthology which can all be purchased on Amazon. Arden lives in Seattle, Washington with her husband and two rescue pups. To read more of her stories, visit her website.
