[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]I spent most of today in a coffee shop. It’s a wonderful little place, just around the corner from my house. They have wifi, and they make all their own flavors for the coffee (maple latte? pumpkin spice? honey lavender? salted caramel? yes, please?), and they don’t mind if you park yourself in a booth for five hours. And all the booths have outlets. But you know the best part? I wasn’t alone. I had a very special Writing Partner Date, which resulted in 3,824 words today. We feel almost as good about that as about the caramelized onions in the panini.

I’m not just here to brag, though. About halfway through our session it was for-real her turn to write, and had been for some time.

“Do I have time to go to the bathroom?” I asked impatiently. (This thing that I just did, with the adverb, don’t do that in your writing. It’s boring.)

“Probably,” she admitted. “I need to know how this bit of machinery works.” There were about 20 browser tabs open on her screen, and she was searching frantically for a gear ratio to describe what was wrong with a bit of clockwork in our story.

“You don’t have to know everything,” I reminded her…

“… but I do have to know more than the average reader,” we finished together.

TL;DR Google is your friend. If you are writing, for example, a story set in the Idaho panhandle, don’t refer to rolling plains because there aren’t any there. That’s the other part of Idaho. If a character in your story is milking a cow, you’d better know how that works and how many nipples are on an udder. Spend some time thinking about your story- do the working parts make sense? How many seats does that kind of car have?

After you know how all the working parts in your story, uh, work, make sure they’re working in order like our clockwork. Did your character close the door before she entered the room? Did he fall down first and then double over? Walk through the action of your story, even if you look like a giant dork, and make sure that arms move the way you described them. Continuity is important – especially in short stories, where the reader will for-sure remember if your character picked the ball up with his left hand a paragraph before he put it in his right pocket.

But enough about you, let’s talk about… you. And your stories, and your votes. In fact, I’m going to give you the results on all three of our grids – nonfiction, fiction|poetry, and microfiction – right here!

But it’s not all about the popular vote, folks. We also have our editorial staff picks to hand out. Every week our editors comb through your submissions looking for their favorites. Picks are based on writing quality, how successful the author is in conveying information, and just plain style. If you got a staff pick this week, grab your badge from the sidebar and wear it with pride!

Once you’re done reading through the staff picks (and congratulating the winners in the comments), keep scrolling down to check out who won the popular vote on all three grids. If you earned the highest number of votes in any challenge, you are this week’s crowd favorite! If you came in first, second or third, you get “top three” honors. Grab your badge from our sidebar!

Looking for your badge? The fiction|poetry, nonfiction and microstories challenges all have the same winner, staff pick, and top three badges. It doesn’t clutter up our sidebar, and they’ll still look pretty on yours![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Yeah write #239 weekly writing challenge staff picks: fiction|poetry

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ghazal: light by ruby bastille

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]In ten lines and a very strict poetry structure, Ruby Bastille tells us about the radiant light of meeting someone special, the marooning of two people excited about getting to know each other, the curtained ripping promises of devotion, and the light-claiming elopement of a couple. Or at least that’s how I read it. But my favorite part of her poem was witnessing the transformation of the word light either twinkling or waning in every stanza.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”22650″ alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_circle” title=”nate”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Yeah write #239 weekly writing challenge staff picks: microstories

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electric organ by plenty plenty

[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Emily’s story is a stunning example of synecdoche, where the part represents the whole. Her language is visceral and poetic – a beautifully effective combination. In answering “where is your heart?” with such a concrete image, she also answers the more metaphysical question “do I exist?”[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”22657″ alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_circle” title=”christine”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][vc_column_text]

That’s it for our staff picks this week! Remember, we don’t always give out a pick on every grid; if we were impressed by several posts on one grid, we’ll give them all picks, and if nothing really stood out for us on another grid, we’ll hold off.

If you’re lost in the middle of the grid and wondering how you can get a little more feedback on your posts, check out our membership perks!

Everybody: before you go, please take some time to leave your favorites a little love in the comments.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

Weekend moonshine grid opens today at 6 p.m. eastern time

Oh my goodness, are we still in November? Drag your diminishing store of ideas down to the moonshine grid this weekend for a little refresher. The coffee is hot and the beer is not, as they say, uh, somewhere. I’m out of ideas too, you guys. See you at 6pm EST![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Congratulations to the crowd favorites at yeah write #239

The thumbnails are now sorted in order of most votes to fewest. Ties in the overall number of votes are broken by number of editor votes.

Congratulations if you’re at or near the top! Writing well is hard work, and we’re honored you’ve chosen us this week to showcase your entry.

If you’re at or near the bottom, don’t be discouraged. You’re in the right community for learning and growing as a writer, and we are always available with resources for those who ask nicely.

To our readers and voters: thank you! See you next week.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]

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