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Vote for your favorite nonfiction, fiction and microstories here

Welcome, one and all (and especially you new folks) to the three-ring circus that is the yeah write #198 popular vote! We’ve got lions and tigers and bears – oh my! – but I promise no clowns. Those guys creep me out. It’s the smiling. I’m not a ray of freakin’ sunshine, okay?

Like the Big Top, our voting grids will be open from 11:00 pm Eastern US time on Wednesday until 10:00 pm Eastern time on Thursday. After the grids close and our vote-checkers confirm that all the votes are valid, the winners’ post will go up. You can find it right here and it’ll swing in on a virtual trapeze no later than noon on Friday.

If you’re new in these parts, here’s how our schedule works: our three challenges open on separate days – Monday for nonfiction, Tuesday for fiction and poetry, and Wednesday for microfiction – but instead of separate days for voting, we’ve combined them all into one big voting post every Thursday.

All three challenges are open below for your voting pleasure. If you want to vote on a grid, please take the time to read all the entries on the grid before voting for the best three. To do that, you might have to take a step back and read the rules for each grid: for example, does that microstory really answer the ultimate question, or did it just make you laugh?

You get three votes on each separate grid. If you’d like to reveal the current vote tallies, just refresh the page after you’ve finished voting. Just a reminder: if you want to see the vote tallies, please use the device you voted from originally. Don’t double-vote just to see how your post is doing; it’s not fair to anyone and we’ll remove your votes.

Thanks to those of you who took the time to write and submit to our grids this week. Thanks also to those of you who may not have had the time or inspiration to write a new post but who dropped by to read and vote – we love you! And welcome to those who may just be showing up to our little corner of the web. As always, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email us or hit us up on Facebook or Twitter.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

I got a love letter. Now what?

Trust me, it’s not any more fun for me to write your love letters than it is for you to get them. I know that on the other end of that letter is someone who’s hearing “my post wasn’t good enough this week.” I’m not going to say this hurts me more than it hurts you, but I know what rejection feels like. That’s why we never tell you that you didn’t make the grid without explaining what you need to improve.

Did you break a rule? Miss too many typos? Just skip that last proofread? Remember, there are no points for being first in line. All the entries you see on the grids down there are in random order. Take the time to give your post that last bit of polish that makes the difference between “okay” and “great.” Read the rules one more time before you submit, to make sure you are following all of them. Bring your best, most careful work to the grid, and it will pay off.

If you are reading your letter and you think the advice conflicts with other advice you’ve received on your writing, remember that we’re not the absolute overlords of writing but we do know what’s going to improve your chances in the voting and competition at yeah write, from structure to grammar to visual elements in your post. Take a minute to listen carefully, even though it hurts, and see how you might be able to use that advice.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Voting closes on Thursday at 10 p.m. US eastern standard time. [-5 GMT]

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