Black Lives Matter
Yes, that’s an unequivocal statement. Not just the “perfect victims” sleeping in their beds or the ones whose murders are recorded. Every single one. Every Black life.
If you’re going out to protest this weekend, stay safe, know your rights, and we thank you. If you’re not, and there are a variety of reasons why you might not, from being a single parent to being vulnerable to this pandemic that, hello, 2020, you’re not supposed to just introduce plot elements, but I’m also unsure I want the denouement for the murder hornets and megastorms plot so… anyway, there’s something for everyone to do, whatever their capacity. Make calls, make texts, make masks. Send pizza to people who’re working late. Donate to a bail fund if you’ve got extra cash, to SPLC or the NAACP or to a local organization because local organizations need all the support they can get. If you’re new to movements, follow the lead of folks who have been doing the work for a while. Make sure you’re uplifting the voices of the people actually affected by any policy you’re considering.
And say it until it’s uncontroversial: Black Lives Matter.
With so much going on in the world, it’s hard to find time to write, and when you do, it’s not always an escape. Current events poke and prod their way to the front of the little prompt queue your brain holds. That’s part of why we keep our nonfiction grid open – but we also review the posts to ensure that each one respects the dignity of our whole community. If you ever see anything on the grid that concerns you, please drop us a line and we’ll doublecheck (we might not have seen it yet; we have day jobs too). That’s also part of why we encourage content warnings: we want people to have the space to engage mindfully with difficult content while they read and 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!
But we don’t limit kudos to posts: our commentariat commendation goes to a writer who has gone above and beyond to offer help and community to authors with work on the grids. You can check out our Critic’s Guide for examples of what we mean, but we don’t limit the commentariat commendation to posts with the concrit badge on. There are definitely still ways to help and support authors who don’t feel confident asking for robust criticism, and we trust our community to find them. On weeks when we find a comment to commend, we’ll let you know in the Roundup section.
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 #477
Ordinarily this is where the Roundup goes, yes. But in light of world events I thought it was a good idea to take a timeout for a second and reiterate some advice that’s been given out about writing in times of political crisis. Writing can be cathartic and useful, but not all writing is more than a journal entry. When you put your voice into the world to weigh in on a critical topic, it’s important to ask is this my story to tell? Am I the right person to tell it? What about my voice and perspective makes my words important on this subject? Just like when you write about people who are close to you, writing about issues you care about can be tricky. For example, when the immigration crackdowns in the US started, a white writer published a story that was basically “how having a Mexican family member makes me feel right now.” And he published it and promoted it with the tagline “this story had to be told, and it had to be told by me.” Did it? To a lot of readers it felt like he was leveraging having a tenuous connection to the issue to center his own voice and feelings again. That’s not saying that his feelings weren’t valid, but that it takes extra work to avoid coming across as tone-deaf. A friend wrote a piece this week that I suggested that she might want to sit on rather than publish. (OK, what I actually said was “no” and the explanation came later.) If you’re going to publish work right now – and yes, you should, you can – this is a good time to find a friend or community member with the experience to be an editor and/or sensitivity reader. They can help you root out the problematic bits of your work, the internalized or taught white supremacy, and the places you need to refocus on the people affected (sometimes that’s you!). And this is your reminder: don’t demand free work from marginalized people. Pay them if you can, offer to trade if you can’t, and take no for an answer. Sometimes work is for your journal after all; that doesn’t mean it’s not part of your writing journey.
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 #477
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.
