Earworms
Our winner on the nonfic grid may be singing lullabies, but the only song I’ve got stuck in my head right now is Barenaked Ladies’ “One Week.” It feels like everything is on a countdown timer and I’m clinging to each second. In three hours, we’ll announce the winners of Super Challenge #8 (I want to give you a hint but I caaaaaaan’t and it’s killing meeeeee). Tomorrow, the long weekend starts here (US friends, please remember there is a difference between Veterans’ Day and Memorial Day, you’re making a lot of service members and veterans very uncomfortable right now). In 27 days it will FINALLY be June Solstice and we’ll be headed for my favorite season. Registration for Super Challenge #9 opens in June. And in only six days, we’re rolling out exciting changes here at YeahWrite, revamping our membership structure to give you more perks as well as … you know what? I’m gonna write a big spoiler for our new benefits in white text right below this paragraph, so select/highlight/whatever if you wanna know.
Right here—>We’ll be making our editors available to everyone, not just members, for evaluations and reviews.
While we wait, though, let’s find out who won this week’s popular vote on both grids. 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 #371
Back in the day, when I was a baby writer and we had to push our keyboards to school uphill both ways in the snow, YeahWrite had a limit of 500 words on the nonfiction grid. Later, it was 1,000. The 750-word limit these days feels both luxurious and cramped, depending on your writing style. This week every single essay on the nonfiction grid had an interesting digression that could have been better developed with more words, or might have strengthened the essay if it were left out. When you’ve got 750 words to get your story and a so-what, and a theme in, you don’t have a lot of room for detours. Make yours memorable or meaningful, and if you find they’re more memorable than the essay you sat down to write, consider discarding the rest of the essay and following that interesting path into the woods instead.
Oh my gosh, I love words. I really do. Words like luxuriant. Petrichor, sibilant, fricative. Callipygian, aromatic, coruscating, thanatos, liminal, chiaroscuro. Words are great. But trying to pack too many of my favorite words into a story or poem can cause it to drag rather than elevating my text. One way I help writers manage this is by using those lush words less frequently, but with precision. There’s no real benefit to describing someone’s requirements as “desiderata” unless you need the particular alchemy of ecclesiastic flavor and ambition it evokes. Saving those words for when nothing else will do to add texture to your writing will make your work look smarter and tidier as well as making sure your reader has the context to understand why you’re using that word and the assurance that you know what it means.
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 #371
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.
