Cheers to the freakin’ weekend
And to the one person besides me who’s now got that song stuck in their head. Sorrynotsorry.
Whether your weekend is a time of relaxation or whether you’re one of our final ten writers in the Super Challenge, I hope you have a fantastic break from everyday life lined up. We all need that once in a while, and life comes at you fast during the holidays. Here in the US it’s Veterans Day Weekend, which means it’s time for my annual reminder: please, if you’re planning to thank a former service member for their service, don’t grab their arm to get their attention. I keep thinking that’s not going to be a thing, but it is. For everyone’s sake, be respectful of people’s personal space. Especially people who have been trained to break your arm without thinking and who will feel really bad if that happens.
What do we have lined up for your weekend at YeahWrite? Well, our weekend writing showcase opens in just a few hours, with no-holds-barred posting. Just slap that badge on and post your longest, shortest, oldest or newest post. Right after that, the final round of the Super Challenge opens at 10pm, so don’t forget to drop by and check out the prompt and wish the writers good luck! In the meantime, we have this week’s popular vote results right here!
Besides the popular vote, we also have the option of handing out an editorial staff pick to any post on our grids. Our editors comb the grids to find, not just the best writing on this grid this week, but what we think is pretty darn great writing anywhere anytime. Picks are based on writing quality, how successful the author is in conveying information, and just plain style. The great part is that we don’t have a finite number of picks to hand out. That means that if two, three, five, or even all the works on one grid are fantastic, we can give them all kudos- and we’d love to, so keep that great work coming!
On weeks when we don’t award a staff pick, keep an extra close eye on the Roundup. That’s our rundown of trends we see from week to week. We try to highlight the good stuff and point out problems that more than one writer is struggling with. There’s probably a handy tip in there for you right now, so check it out!
Once you’re done reading through the Roundup, keep scrolling down to check out who won the popular vote on both 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, Editorial Staff Pick, and Top Three badges. It doesn’t clutter up our sidebar, and they’ll still look pretty on yours!
Rowan’s Roundup: YeahWrite Weekly Writing Challenge #343
When you’re pulling together an essay for your blog or site, you’re doing more than picking out words. You’re also establishing formatting rules and styles. When you do that, ask yourself a couple questions.
- Does this really need to be a different color, or am I making my essay harder to read on mobile view?
- Is my picture bigger than the essay itself?
- Am I using bold or italics to emphasize words because I’m worried my writing isn’t strong enough without them?
- Am I mixing bold and italics, or do I have a clear style laid out for myself that uses sparing font choices to escalate in drama? That is, am I using bold and italics to do the same, or different, things?
- What would my essay look like if I just wrote it in the same font? (If the answer is “boring” consider a rewrite rather than more fonts.)
- When I read formal, published work in the genre I like to write in, does it look like my essay or different? (If you’re planning to submit your work somewhere, consider trying to write things that visually resemble the work already published by the site or publisher.)
Holy smokes, y’all love the cascade as much as I do! From Jennifer and Annmarie’s near-prosaic story-texts to rarasaur and Sara’s delicate explorations of emotion, to Nate’s investigation of the untidy nature of grief, everyone brought something different to the form and everyone took something different away.
As you reread this week’s grid and consider your own (your next?) cascade poem, look for a few things: one of the techniques that really worked for a lot of folks this week was bringing a sort of microstory sensibility to the poem. Consider the use of changed meanings of lines, “plot” twists, and making sure the reader has enough information to process your more subtle dreamscapes. That sentence got as convoluted as the cascade I was trying to write this week; I’ll see you on the next grid!
That’s it for this week! 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! If you’re more the self-help type, remember to scroll through our writing help section for tips and tricks. Even if a post isn’t directed at your favorite grid, there’s probably a handy hint for you in there anyway!
Everybody: before you go, please take some time to leave your favorites a little love in the comments, and don’t forget, the Weekend Writing Showcase opens tonight at 6pm Eastern US Time!
Congratulations to the Crowd Favorites at YeahWrite #343
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.
Nonfiction Challenge
Loading InLinkz ...Fiction|Poetry Challenge
Loading InLinkz ...About the author:
Rowan submitted exactly one piece of microfiction to YeahWrite before being consumed by the editorial darkside. She spent some time working hard as our Submissions Editor before becoming YeahWrite’s Managing Editor in 2016. She was a BlogHer Voice of the Year in 2017 for her work on intersectional feminism, but she suggests you find and follow WOC instead. In real life she’s been at various times an attorney, aerialist, professional knitter, artist, graphic designer (yes, they’re different things), editor, secretary, tailor, and martial artist. It bothers her vaguely that the preceding list isn’t alphabetized, but the Oxford comma makes up for it. She lives in Portlandia with a menagerie which includes at least one other human. She tells lies at textwall and uncomfortable truths at CrossKnit.
