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Vote for your favorite nonfiction, fiction and microstories here

I’m tired.

That’s the first thing that I thought when I sat down to write this post. I’m tired, and this feels like effort. I’m exhausted, frankly, by the things that matter. By #blacklivesmatter having to be a thing. By systemic racism, misogyny, by family struggles and friends fighting. I’m tired of writing about the things that matter most, the things that feel like every word is drawn dripping from some portion of me below my heart.

When I feel like this, sometimes I think it’s the writing that’s the problem. That if I could just stop writing I could stop thinking about these things. But that’s not the answer. Those things will always be there, in the back of my mind. It’s just that, sometimes, maybe today for a few hours, I don’t have to engage with them in this particular way. Writing can be an escape, too, a way to build and explore worlds with less hurt than this one, a way to embrace good times and stuff that’s just too damn funny not to share.

How you choose to engage with your writing is up to you. But if you’re feeling writer’s fatigue, try something new rather than not writing. Write a short, terrible poem. Write a funny story, or an essay about the time you tried to refinish your own floors. Let your writing be a recharge instead of a drain.

And if you really can’t, just can. not. even. with that right now? That’s ok too. You’re here, right? Read. Vote. Reach out. Whatever level of involvement is good for you this week. Leave one comment, or a dozen. Remember what it feels like to be read and understood, and share that feeling. Writing isn’t just about making the words. It’s about communication, building an exchange of ideas, thoughts, hopes and dreams. And also ghost stories and bad poems. I keep harping on the bad poems because I’m going to dig up some of my terrible baby poet writing for you as a special treat.

In the meantime, you’re here and we’re glad to have you. Let’s move on to the good stuff: reading and voting! That’s easier than writing, isn’t it?

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.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Where’s my post?

Under the yeah write grid structure, all submissions (unless they don’t meet the basic requirements for word count, badge, etc.) are visible on the InLinkz grid for the challenge they are submitted to. Then our editors read the posts, looking for the best of the best: good writing, good ideas, and good execution. Posts that make the cut each week will move to the voting grid on Thursday; the other posts will still be visible on the submission grid but will not be eligible for voting.

If you submitted your post but don’t see it on the voting grid, we may not have had a way to contact you to make corrections or fix your word count. Please make sure you always give us a valid email address when you submit, and check your email. If you just have a misplaced footnote, a broken link, or another minor error or two, we may still be able to move you to the voting grid if you can make corrections before the grids close.

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]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.

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yeah write #225 popular voting

Writers: thank you for entering this week’s challenge! If you see your post below, you’ve made it into the voting round. Please make the rounds: read the other entries and leave a footprint for the writers. You love comments? So do they!

Readers and voters: thank you for dropping in on this week’s challenge! Remember that you need to read all the entries on a grid before voting for your favorite three. Click on the thumbnail to read, then click on the heart icon to vote. Can’t decide between two entries for your third vote? Technical merit (such as compelling narrative or persuasive writing) wins over emotional subtext. But you can (and should!) leave your fourth place finisher a very nice comment.

Remember: targeted voting or voting for your own entry is not allowed.

What does this mean?

First, please don’t tell your friends to come and vote for your piece without reading the others. We love to see new faces reading and voting, but they should only vote for your submission if, after reading everything, they think you’re one of the best three.

Second, don’t vote for yourself. If you vote for your own submission, we’ll remove your vote. If it happens too often, we may have to ask you to take a break from the grids. If you vote for your own submission accidentally, please send us a message letting us know what happened and who you would like to vote for instead. Mistakes happen to everyone!

We monitor the vote to make sure our writing challenge isn’t inadvertently turned into a clicking contest, and we will remove any targeted or self votes.

Good luck in the challenge, everybody! Voting closes on Thursday at 10 p.m. US eastern daylight time. [-4 GMT] The winners’ post, including our editorial staff picks, will be published by Friday at noon.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Voting closes on Thursday at 10 p.m. US eastern daylight time. [-4 GMT]

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