Habari gani? Kujichagulia
It’s the second day of Kwanzaa, where I am. Depending on your time zone and country, it might be something else for you. I’m sitting here writing the last winners’ post of the year and thinking about the ways we celebrate each other right now. But don’t forget to take time to celebrate yourself. You made it through another year – our Year of Fearless Writing, here, and 2019 in the Gregorian calendar. Part of 5780 in the Hebrew calendar. Almost all of the Year of the Pig. In the next couple weeks, folks are probably going to start asking what goals you set for next year. It’s more pressure, on top of a holiday season that is already intense, so I just want to remind you: You did something this year. It had worth. That’s going to happen again next year whether it aligns with your aspirational goals or not. So congratulations. Good job. And while I hope to see you on the grid next year, no pressure. Just keep reading the prompts: you’re a writer. Something will come to you.
Normally I have a lot of boilerplate language here about blah blah popular vote blah editorial staff pick. I just deleted ALL of it for this post. This week, we’re not tiebreaking. If everyone earns first (or third, or…) then that’s what they get. Take your badges, folks. And have a good whatever you’re celebrating.
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 2019
It’s been a heck of a year.
When we added the Super Challenge to our bag of tricks, we had no idea what kind of reception it was going to get. We just knew that there were things that bothered us about other competitions, things we thought we could do better, or things we just thought were really interesting and we couldn’t find anyone doing them. But here we are, 14 challenges in, and it almost feels like we’ve hit our stride. We’ve got a format that fits into everyone’s schedule pretty well – including ours and our judges’ – and we’re still having fun with the prompts. And we’re loving how many people are taking those Super Challenge stories out into the world and getting them published! After all, you put in the work to write the story, why not get it read?
We hope you had as much fun with the Year of Fearless Writing as we did. And that you’ve done your December homework: you’re a writer, go ahead and say it out loud. While the project was structured for “a year,” there’s things we’re going to revisit in there as we work through our careers as writers, and we think you might like to as well. It’s another resource that we hadn’t really seen collected all in one place. (Although drop us a line if someone has, because we’d love to add a link. Resources are for sharing.)
In 2020 we’ll be replacing the Year of Fearless Writing with another yearlong workshop, this one in a more play-along format. That’s right, after years of whining about how the editors never get to do all the fun stuff we set up (or all the complicated feelings that come with being on the grid as an editor: shouldn’t I be the best all the time? no, wait, it’s good for people to see editors lose… but will they respect us… but…) we’re going to work right alongside you on this one. And although it’s designed as a yearlong workshop, you can jump in or out for as many months as you can make it – or go back and do one you missed. Look out for it in the new year.
Speaking of the new year, our “tiniest challenge with the biggest bang” is MOVING. No, not websites. It’s moving to the first weekend of the month. You’ll get the whole weekend to write, and it’ll kick off with our other grids, so no more trying to remember that it’s Wednesday where we are or which Wednesday it is. Look out for that in… a week!
Poets, the slam will be shifting formats a little bit in the new year, too. We’ve got a huge library of forms now for you to learn and play with if you want, but we haven’t spent a ton of time talking about what makes a poem, well, poetic. So we’re going to delve a little bit more into that in the new year, leaning on some established work to get us there. It’ll be fun. Or work. One of those. But with so many of you on the grids so consistently, we finally have the momentum and excitement to move forward with a slightly more analytical (ugh, that sounds boring, I promise it’s not boring) series that should tune up your technique in 2020.
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, next week’s challenges kick off at midnight tonight!
Congratulations to the Crowd Favorites at YeahWrite #454
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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The Year of Fearless Writing was a great series; thanks for your investment in it! So exciting to hear about the upcoming things for poetry 🙂 Any chance that might lead to a Poetry Super Challenge?