To hail in a handbasket
While literally everywhere else (it seems) in the US has record snow, I’m sitting at home watching our third hailstorm in two days. The hailstones are as big as my pinky fingernail, and are piling up in drifts trying to pretend they’re snow. YOU’RE NOT SNOW. WEATHER, WHAT ARE YOU DOING? At least it gave me an excuse to stay inside with a warm mug of tea and read the grids, right? And not just read the grids: read everyone’s lovely and thoughtful comments. Making the rounds like that really helps us all become better writers by developing critical reading skills (and even reading comments where the reader clearly took away something we hadn’t intended to put in our work teaches us something about the way we write). Plus, hey, popular vote!
Besides the popular vote, we also have the option of handing out an editorial staff pick to any post on our grids. 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 #410
Family! It’s not my go-to topic for creative nonfiction, but it is for a lot of folks, and I haven’t talked about “what’s your story to tell” for a while, so I’m taking advantage of this week’s family-full grid to do that. When you tell your stories, it affects people who aren’t you. In many cases, that’s perfectly fine. In other cases, maybe if they didn’t want you to talk about the time they told Melissa not to be your friend because you’re weird, they should have just not done that, Karen. But when you’re talking about family, you’re talking about a delicate balance, and about people you probably have ongoing relationships with. So before you hit publish, take a deep breath and consider whether you’re about to violate someone’s boundaries with your story – and if you’re okay with that. Again, there are plenty of instances where it’s perfectly fine to tell your story. But make sure you’re not accidentally telling someone else’s story in a way that might harm innocent people. Or do: I don’t have to go to Thanksgiving dinner with your family and you do, so it’s really up to you!
This month’s fiction prompts have given folks some huge ideas! That’s exciting, but it can also be frustrating as you try to cram a big idea into a brief wordcount. If you find yourself spending most of your words on telling the reader ABOUT the story, instead of telling the story, consider trimming your idea down a little bit.
I can hear you asking “but Rowan, how?” and I will leave you this piece of advice from an old photography teacher: every big picture is made up of a bunch of little pictures, so you can draw your frame anywhere in there and have “a picture” – just remember to look inside the four corners of your new frame and make sure the picture is complete and interesting.
Congratulations to the Crowd Favorites at YeahWrite #410
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
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