Filling the gap between summer and fall

Our summer series has ended! We hope you found the combined grid, the lounges, and the coffeehouse to be valuable experiences. We watched many writers grow in the past six weeks. If you just discovered us over the summer series, please stick around and get to know the non-summer series yeah write. We promise it’s just as fun.

As we tend to do, we’ll be making some changes this fall. Please be sure to sign up for our mailing list so you can be among the first to know when new and exciting things are announced. In the meantime, we will be having a few weeks of unmoderated grids as we ease the transition from summer to fall.

End of Summer Invitational

We’ve been watching you over the summer. Not in a creepy way, though. We were excited about our summer series and you were too- you brought your work to the three critique lounges, accepted constructive criticism with grace and aplomb, and made your revisions. We’ve collected a shortlist of pieces we think really showcase the hard work you’ve done, and we’ll be placing them all in a special invitational grid. Give them a read and help us choose the best of the best!

Submissions guidelines: know them, love them

Anyone who has been here a while can tell you how hard we push our submission guidelines. All of our challenges, the speakeasy, the gargleblaster, and the traditional challenge, have their own submission guidelines, so if you’re new to the traditional grid, please familiarize yourself with the guidelines for this particular challenge. All summer long we hosted one supergrid featuring fiction, poetry and gargleblasters alongside the traditional blog posts and personal essays. This week we go back to separate grids, so this is your chance to make sure you’re in the right room.

Submit your best when you know it will be the best on the grid

We want your best work and we want you to submit it when you know it will be the best on the grid. But wait, you wonder, how can I possibly know what other people are going to submit?

You can’t know that, and therein lies the challenge. If you walk into this challenge thinking your piece is pretty good, you’re walking in getting ready to lose. If you proofread, and polish, and edit, and rework, and you are confident that you’re giving your best work, your effort will show. You still may not win, but if you don’t give more than your all, how can you expect to?

Here’s a hint: You don’t need to be the first to submit. Take your time. We’re open for submissions until 11:59 pm Wednesday.

Who’s on Fourth? Yeah write interviews Sam of This Heart of Mine

Have you checked out Arden’s interview with Sam for this month’s installment of who’s on fourth? If not, you can read all about it here.

Is this your first time here? Welcome!

Did you follow the link from the badge on a friend’s blog? Welcome! Please check out our submission guidelines, then jump right in. We’d love to have you.

Did you land here out of curiosity because you saw a whole bunch of hits from yeah write in your wordpress.com stats? Welcome! That means somebody at yeah write stumbled over your post, thought it was a good fit for us, and submitted your post for consideration. We hope you don’t mind!

If you like, please grab the challenge badge from our sidebar, install it using the HTML view of your post, then visit the other entries on the grid. Did we mention there will be a vote for the best submissions on Thursday? That’s the fun part. Please stick around.

The invitational grid and editor picks will be unlocked at 30+ entries on the challenge grid

In weeks where we receive at least 30 submissions, the special invitational grid opens. The editors will select the cream of the crop, who will go on to compete for the coveted jury prize. Spread the word because your word of mouth can get those submissions up! Just make sure to tell your friends to bring their best work.

Kevin the kiwi and Comment Bob: yeah write community spirit awards

Do you remember Kevin? He’s that stylish kiwi with the scarf and hat, rooting around for an exceptional post on the grid. When we have fewer than 30 posts in the challenge grid, Rowan G, our submissions editor, will send Kevin home with her favorite post. If we open the invitational with 30 or more entries, Kevin will gladly sit this one out.

Comment Bob flies through open windows at night and leaves pom-poms under the pillows of the readers leaving the most thoughtful comments on each entry on the challenge grid. Just kidding. Penguins can’t fly. He has a jetpack.  The part about the pom-poms, though, is completely true, so please make it a point to participate in our community as a writer, reader, voter and commenter.

We call it a challenge for a reason, and making the rounds to all the other blogs is a very large part of it.  Remember, a good comment is more than “great work,” it’s a thoughtful response to the post you just read.

Voting on the challenge grid opens Thursday: more entries means more votes

The crowd favorite is determined by a moderated popular vote. That means it’s never a clicking contest. We expect our readers to vote for the best on the challenge grid based on technical and artistic merit. here’s the scale:

• 01-10 submissions: one vote
• 11-20 submissions: two votes
• 21-30 submissions: three votes
• 31-40 submissions: four votes
• 41-50 submissions: five votes

The more submissions, the more votes. Write a blurb beside your yeah write challenge button inviting your friends to join us. Send a personal email. Talk us up in your writing circles. Stumble over a blog post you think would be perfect for the challenge grid? Email us the link, and if it’s a good fit, we’ll add it ourselves.

Late breaking news! Prizes!

You’re not going crazy. This little section may not have been here when you first read this post. But we got to thinking and then we got to feeling generous, so we’re offering some prizes.

Prizes for the ultimate winner:

• a random penguin mug good for all of your drinking needs designed by friend of yeah write ML Philpott;
• NYT bestselling title Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Redemption and Resilience by Laura Hillenbrand; and
• A $20 Shutterfly Gift Card.

And just who will be this ultimate winner you may ask? Well, the editors will select the winner from the very best posts from this challenge and next week’s. That means you have two chances to wow us and two chances to win. 

Odds, ends, reminders

• The badge you will need to add to your planned submission is over in the sidebar
• This immediate past Sunday is the earliest your submission can be dated
• Your post can be no longer than 600 words: it’s 500 words plus 100 words grace
• Personal essays or traditional blog anecdotes only
• There are no mandatory weekly prompts; the topic is yours. Be compelling
• The grid is open from Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. to Wednesday at 11:59 p.m.
• There is voting. Voting will take place Thursday from midnight to 10:00 p.m. US eastern
• The challenge grid is limited to 50 bloggers
• The winners’ post will be published by noon on Friday
• No commercial, sponsored or self-promotional posts are allowed on the yeah write grid, including those containing links to other blog events and Internet contests

Voting is open at the gargleblaster! If you have a chance, stop by, read all the 42-word entries, then vote on the best three of the gargleblaster grid. It’s yeah write’s newest challenge, and we’re quite proud of it! Yeah write #176 traditional challenge grid is open right here…

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