I need a break to recover from my break
This can be a rough time of year to be a writer, what with the apocalyptic fires and the assassinations. What, you thought I meant the holidays? Those are over. But the world keeps tumbling on, and one of my jobs is to stay engaged with it. (I have a client who does a current events roundup every winter? I cannot recommend doing this if you like your mental health. That… is not at all a flippant or casual statement.) So I just want to say: it’s ok if you need a story break. It’s ok if you want to read something that not only isn’t nonfiction but is absolutely tropey and predictable. It’s fine if you need to take this time to re-read some comfort food for your brain. It’s ok if you want to write that, too. Not everything has to be Serious High Art to have value.
When I picked out the poem to analyze for January’s slam, I apologized to the other editors. It’s the most-parodied poem on the web. Any farther down the trope-hole and it would be bredlik. But it was kind of what I needed this week, and I’m not going to apologize after all, and I hope you end up having fun with it as well as analyzing how line breaks work. Fun and learning aren’t incompatible (yes, my mother taught at a Montessori school, why do you ask).
And taking a break from everything to dive into a story long enough to read or write it is important. Yes, even if you don’t think that you’ll win the popular vote.
But it’s not all about the popular vote at YeahWrite, folks. We also have our editorial staff picks to hand out. See, while there’s a popular vote winner every week, we don’t always give out a staff pick. Our editors comb the grids to find, not just the best writing on our 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.
If you got a staff pick this week, grab your badge from the sidebar and wear it with pride! 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.
The other benefit of the editors’ pick, of course, is that unlike the popular vote we’ll tell you why we liked that post. So don’t just skip reading the blurb if it’s not about your post; you’ll pick up some handy pointers about what makes good writing great that you can apply to your own work. For more of that critical feedback, keep an eye on our Roundup for a quick rundown of the trends we’re seeing. 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 Editorial Staff Picks and Roundup (and congratulating the winners in the comments), 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 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!
YeahWrite #455 Weekly Writing Challenge Staff Picks:
Fiction|Poetry
Rowan’s Roundup: YeahWrite Weekly Writing Challenge #455
One of the hardest things in nonfiction is to tell when it’s “too soon” to write an essay that’s been marinating. One clue is that what you end up with is an essay that’s written all the way around your so-what, but never actually includes it. That doesn’t mean you need to write a sentence that’s just your so-what, but it does mean you may need to run your work past a beta reader to see if they can find it or if you’re flinching from it.
Instead of rounding up last year (look, I just did that) or this (is just to say) week’s grid, I wanna tease this coming year a little bit, ok? The editors sat down and talked through a lot of the things that are keeping people from landing those ed picks that we want to give out, and then set up a bunch of prompts that would help you focus on those, so that the skills developed through working to each prompt could become “muscle memory” in writing. Not everyone needs to work on every… you know what? that’s a lie. Everyone needs to work on every skill. Yes, including the editors. (Trust me, you’ll see that clearly when our piece lands on that story grid for Hindsight.) Take advantage of this. Whether you end up loving a poetry technique (and all of those can work well in your prose, too) or learning a new way to anchor a plot or get a reader to invest in a character, if you put a little work in on this year’s prompts they will pay off exponentially. Can you make a New Year’s resolution to get on the grids once a month? Yeah? Great. See you there.
That’s it for this week! Remember, we don’t always give out a pick on each 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 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, next week’s challenges kick off at midnight tonight!
REMINDER: MICROPROSE OPENS AT MIDNIGHT TONIGHT ON OUR NEW SCHEDULE.
Congratulations to the Crowd Favorites at YeahWrite #455
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.
