[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]My Thursday was not improved by biting into totally raw chicken at the barbecue. So I hope Friday’s going to be better as we announce not one but two sets of winners.
That’s right, today we’re not just cooking up the popular vote winners on the regular grids, we’re serving up the overall winners of the super challenge. Congratulations to everyone who entered and thanks for playing along at home!
Now that I’ve taken that cooking metaphor as far as I can without throwing up, I’m gonna go ahead and give you the popular vote winners on both regular challenge grids. Remember, with the grids unmoderated it’s up to you to invite and deliver gentle but helpful feedback on where a post missed the mark a little, gilded the lily or failed to hang together. I don’t think anyone really misses the feeling of rejection they got from their love letters, but we’re all writers and writers are feedback junkies, right?
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! If you don’t see a staff pick this week, scroll on down to the Roundup for some trends we’re seeing on the grids that might help explain why. Maybe it’s something you need to work on too!
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? Both grids 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 #279 weekly writing challenge staff picks: nonfiction
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what doesn’t kill you by pryvate parts
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Writing about death can be tricky. You can be too maudlin or, taken to the other extreme, too glib. In this essay, Lisa at pryvate parts strikes the right balance with dry humor held in check by gravity. The essay begins with the memory of herself as a young adult in the face of abundant loss — seven loved ones over five years. Death “came to visit, raided my fridge, and shit in my bathtub.” Now facing the decline of her father’s health, she questions whether that string of loss strengthened her. The essay doesn’t answer the question but instead asks more: “I’ve written the ending to this so many times and I can’t for the life of me bring all the threads together and tie it with a bow, because the conclusion I keep coming to doesn’t end with a period, but a question mark.” Without doubt, those in less fortunate spaces in the world experience high mortality as part of their daily existence. No matter where you live or who you are, death is the common denominator that binds us all. The universality is punctuated with the deeper question lurking between the lines in Lisa’s essay: why?[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”22653″ style=”vc_box_circle” title=”meg”][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Rowan’s roundup: yeah write weekly writing challenge #279
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nonfiction
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]One of the things that I really love about creative nonfiction is that it gives us the freedom to write conversationally. That means we can talk in short bursts, use fragments, throw out colloquialisms and curses, and generally shape our punctuation to mimic the way we talk rather than what Ms. Camarillo in seventh grade would really prefer that I suggest to you. J/K, Jeanie Camarillo was a gem and she’d probably totally grok what I’m about to say:
There’s a difference between freedom and a goddamn comma splice.
A comma splice is the literary equivalent of a five-year-old child coming up to you and running liquidly from one thought to another without saying what they mean, I’m talking about doing what I just did there and sticking two sentences together with a comma. Slow down. Take a breath. And use the periods and semi-colons that Ms. Camarillo gave us to separate complete thoughts instead of just jamming a poor little comma in there and going for it.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”29344″ alignment=”center”][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”3/4″][vc_column_text]
fiction|poetry
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Contradictions and contrasts. They’re great in photography and can be useful in writing as long as you’re not contradicting yourself. Think about this passage:
I peered out into the night, unable to see much past the end of my nose. I could only hear the cattle lowing in the barn under the full moon.
So, that sets up a lovely little scene, right? Um, no. Because anyone who has seen a full moon knows that it casts an awful lot of light. The second sentence should be the new moon, the waning moon, or even the stars, but not the full moon. Little inconsistencies like this have a way of throwing a pebble under the wheels of the reader’s… what, a pebble doesn’t do much to wheels?
I think I’ve made my point.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/4″][vc_single_image image=”29345″ alignment=”center”][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_separator][vc_column_text]That’s it for 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 didn’t get a pick this week, read back through the roundup to see if you can use some of this week’s tips and tricks.
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, and don’t forget, our weekend grid opens tonight at 6pm Eastern US Time![/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
Congratulations to the crowd favorites at yeah write #279
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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