Everything but writing…
I’ve sat down to write this post at least five times today. Instead, I’ve:
- Gone for a motorcycle ride
- Picked apples
- Baked a fig cake
- Invoiced (ok that needed doing, though, I really like eating food and living under a roof)
- Played three separate video games
Speaking of games, I started playing a game with myself while I was doing those things. It’s called “there’s an essay in that” and it’s based off the idea that if you try hard enough, there’s an essay in anything. It doesn’t have to be a huge deal, just find the thing you’re doing and how you feel about it, and without telling the reader any of that, see if you can find something that strikes a common chord. Christine and I both did that this week on the nonfiction grid, but I’ll let you be the judge of whether it worked well or not. In general, though, “there’s an essay in that” is a pretty good fit for anything that makes you feel, remember, or think hard. Of course, there are always the “big-idea” essays, and I love those, the real drama of your life, the important ideas and questions and analyses, the memories that make us shout with laughter and weep with shared grief. But the best way to be prepared to write those well is to get good writing about the stuff you don’t think matters, like the shape of a junco’s beak, or the way you can’t stop smelling smoke, or the way your shoulders relax when both kids are out of the room for five minutes. Use those moments to practice, and along the way maybe you’ll pick up a popular vote win or two!
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 #493
With a small grid, it’s nice to reach into the archives now and then and pull out some advice from the good ol’ days. You know, like three years ago or something. The precedented days. Those certain times. So here’s an oldie but a goodie: readers will remember your first and last paragraphs most clearly, so if you’re going to put in a pet phrase or a tidy idea, that’s where to put it. Start strong and finish strong, and your essay will be remembered as strong even if the middle wasn’t quite all there. Use your best words, use your slickest phrasing, your hook, and your zinger. Don’t waste those on the middle of your essay, where they’ll get lost in the swamp.
While I’m pulling old advice out of a hat, here’s a perennial favorite for fiction writers. If you don’t have personal experience with something (and in many cases even if you do), look it up. Look up how professions work, what a city looks like on the map (and in satellite images, looking at you, writer with a long story that takes place in “the rolling plains of the Idaho panhandle”), what something tastes like, and the stress tolerances of human joints. After all, if the FBI wouldn’t be seriously concerned by your browser history, are you really a writer? (You are, but get on that research thing and you’ll be a better one.) You never know when someone reading has real experience or is an expert on the thing you’re writing about, and you’ll not only lose their respect, you’ll lose the respect of their network if someone asks them about you as a writer.
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 #493
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.
