Have you discovered the bronze lounge community? The coffeehouse? The summer supergrid?

We’ve got a lot going on at the same time this summer at yeah write weekly writing challenge, a little something for anyone who may stop by. The bronze lounge is our free space for introducing yourself to a smaller yeah write audience than usual. You can upload a piece you’d like to offer for peer-to-peer critique and you can critique a few pieces yourself. It’s all about getting involved. Register here, then dive in.

The coffeehouse is a place to just hang out and get to know who’s there a little better. Here’s the link if you care to stop by.

And, lastly, we’ve got the summer supergrid, an amalgam of all our regular challenge grids—the gargleblaster, the challenge grid and the speakeasy. Scroll to the end of this post to add your submission after reading the guidelines posted directly above it.

Reprinting yeah write #69 weekly writing challenge: are you a drifter, a literalist or a repeater? [Kristin Wald, contributing editor, July 2012]

After reading Deb’s post about first lines and connecting the end of a post to the beginning, I went back to look at all the yeah write posts I’d submitted since late February. I’m very self-critical, and I know I haven’t always submitted my best stuff for fear of missing out on a grid spot. And for some reason, I thought I’d used several spoken beginnings. In fact, I’d been avoiding using speech to begin because of that.  Huh. Only one started with a quoted piece of dialogue.  Then I was sure, absolutely sure, that I had a tendency to begin with a complex sentence beginning with a subordinate clause. But no, just one or two. Apparently, I do mix up the first lines thing a bit.  Score!

I have some hard-to-break habits, and while they sometimes help strengthen the voice in a piece, they can also get repetitive and just old.  Example: I love AND. Love it. And I love what I call staccato sentences. Short, strong sentences used for emphasis. Oh, and see there? I tend to use fragments to explain what the previous sentence meant. It’s the sort of thing, had a student done it, that I would have scribbled under and written FRAG next to. Ack! I just used a preposition to end a sentence!  Oh dear.

But let’s ignore my shortcomings and talk about yours. Several yeah writers have mentioned feeling like they’re drifting too far from the prompt. Some complain that they can’t seem to get past the literal in the prompts. And still others have bemoaned  feeling like the same story keeps returning to them, disguised as inspiration.  Bottom line: Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing. Nothing stifles creativity quicker than frustration and fear.  Instead, remember that we’re writing in a small space. Microfiction is telling the essence of a story as clearly and concisely as you can. Have you searched various microfiction sites? Here, here, and here. Onward!

The Drifters: Keep drifting! We trust you to be honest about where you started. Let the prompts have their way with you. It’s what all the cool kids are doing.

The Literalists: You think it’s boring to write about the everyday rituals you have? Well, don’t just tell us about them, show us a particular time conflict developed around one. Or maybe you think everyone is afraid of heights, the dentist, clowns, and that makes it blasé. Perhaps, but that doesn’t make it less frightening. If you’re stuck at a prompt literally, go with it.

The Repeaters: Listen, life is the same darn story told again and again. You won’t get away from it. Think about all the songs and paintings and stories about heartbreak, loss, love, sex, death – and realize that there’s nothing left that’s truly original. Give us your story, and make it the best version you are capable of sharing.

That’s all we want. Your “so what”. Your best stuff. Well, your best stuff in 500 words plus 100 words grace. Can’t wait to read it all.

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