What year is it anyway?
I spent this week panicking because I thought all my February stuff needed to be done for YeahWrite. TURNS OUT, I’ve got a whole nother week to do that. Maybe it’s because the Year of the Rat actually starts tomorrow? WHO KNOWS. Anyway, new year new start, right? And we’ve all got an extra week of January to reach for the top of 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 #458 Weekly Writing Challenge Staff Picks:
Nonfiction
My frustration with MLK Day by Kathunk
Writing essays about your frustrations with dismantling systems of inequality can so easily veer into self-recrimination that achieves little or self-congratulation that achieves even less. Alternately, you can end up writing your emotions about subjects that you care deeply for right out of your essay, leaving your reader unconvinced and your work bland. Katie skilfully avoids both of these scenarios by carefully scaffolding her essay to build on her thesis statement, and slipping in appropriate links to support her points. She starts with the strong hook that she’s no longer participating in the social media tradition of sharing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. quotes. She builds the essay through detailing her reasons, which support her initial thesis statement, and providing a brief rundown of her own learning journey and privilege, linking to relevant sources to shore her arguments. She establishes a conflict: wanting to post Dr King’s more critical words, to provide context and support for the Black Lives Matter movement, but at the same time being aware that merely sharing quotes contributes little, and is more likely to make the poster feel like they’ve done something at the expense of actively supporting those who most need support. Finally, she avoids giving pat answers and trite solutions, leaving the reader with a sense of urgency and the will to learn and grow that she herself is working on.
I know everyone thinks I’m sweet and kind, but I’m really not. I get frustrated too, especially with people around me. And I want to yell at them. But it’s awfully public to use my blog to do that, but where else would I? Northie answers that question for me this week with a smoothly written essay describing very relatable frustrations with people who just seem to want accolades at the expense of opportunities for improvement. She doesn’t name names, doesn’t list precise incidents, and yet I (and probably you) can think of some people exactly like the ones she describes. It’s a master class in, well, the need for master classes. It wryly acknowledges and includes emotion, it doesn’t come across as preachy, and it identifies exactly what’s frustrating – and then uses the author’s solution to the problem as a hook, tying a bow on the essay so neatly that you almost forget it’s full of sharp, cutting words.
Rowan’s Roundup: YeahWrite Weekly Writing Challenge #458
“Practice makes perfect,” the saying goes, and while I don’t think that there’s such a thing as “perfect” in writing (who doesn’t see edits they could have made, even in their published work?) practice will get you closer. So this roundup is actually a shoutout to the writers who consistently get something on the grid, who say “you know what, this is what I got this week” and go for it. And especially to the ones who look at the grid on Wednesday and say “I could get something on there, there’s only two people, let’s keep this party going.” You’re the ones who keep us alive, and I love ya.
I had a FANTASTIC drawing teacher once who looked through everyone’s portfolios and then handed each of us a tool that we hadn’t used before. If you drew perfect tiny photorealistic things he’d give you three ballpoint pens taped together. If you did huge charcoal washes he’d give you one of those tiny pencils from Ikea (or a golf course). “You’ve been rewarded for this all your life, and you’re right, you’re good at it, but you’re not getting better,” he’d say, with a gentle sort of dismissiveness. And then he’d make us do something we thought we were bad at. It turned out that the skills we’d picked up in our stagnant art made us better at the new stuff than we expected, and the freedom we picked up from doing something we EXPECTED to be bad at made us better when we tried out our previously preferred style again.
This is a very obvious metaphor for telling you to stop writing the same thing over and over. If all of your poetry is sad love poetry, write about a balloon or something. If every story or poem features someone crying, ground yourself from tears (single or otherwise) for a month or two. If all your stories are kids stories, try writing for adults; and conversely if you constantly write about “dark and brooding adult subject matter” maybe consider a story about a kid finding a puppy but plot twist the kid isn’t an abuse victim and the puppy doesn’t die! In fact, everything is ok! See if you can make that interesting. If you can’t, you’re not the writer you think you are… but that’s okay too. Keep trying and use these new skills to work on becoming that writer.
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!
Congratulations to the Crowd Favorites at YeahWrite #458
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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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.
