Two. No more than two.

That’s how many weeks are left in the 2014 yeah write summer series! The 2014 yeah write summer series continues! Check out Christine’s weekly kickoff post to find everything you need to know about the guidelines, format, and lounges for our summer series. Don’t forget to drop by the yeah write lounges and the coffeehouse and introduce yourself. They are open 24-7 and would love to see you.

I’ll miss you most of all, optional prompt!

What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen monkey, anyway? Does it matter if he’s carrying your little dog, too?

As we look forward to the return of our normal grids, I can hear your sighs of relief from here. No, it’s ok, don’t try to hide it.  But what about those of you who really love a prompt? Maybe you’ll cross over from the challenge grid to the speakeasy for the first time. Maybe you’ll work on a gargleblaster. But maybe, just maybe, you’ll take that next step and find your own prompt, the thing that spurs you on to write without a nudge from The Powers That Be.

Finding your own prompt

A prompt can be anything, really. Whatever spurs you on to write, that’s a prompt.  But what about those times when you really can’t find anything, your kid is behaving, the dog hasn’t peed in the kitchen, and the weeds aren’t overtaking your garden? Just kidding, we all know that never happens, but, like, what if, right?

That’s why this week I’m going to take the plunge and discuss music as a prompt.

The sound of music

Many writers, myself included, have playlists for writing. Whether you use Spotify’s “work focus” playlist or a list of your own making, music can help you get in the mood and stay in the mood. For example, when I’m working on The Novel (names have been changed to protect the potentially unpublishable) I have three playlists. One is for combat scenes, one for expository scenes, and one for intimate scenes. I don’t really consider this music as a “prompt” per se because I’m not getting ideas from the lyrics or sound, but it helps me stay focused on the type of writing I’m doing for that scene.

The abomination known as songfic

I’m actually joking about that. Songfic has some challenges but can be done well. Let’s discuss it for a moment, shall we?

Songfic is a piece of writing inspired by and often interspersed with lyrics from a song.

The first issue you need to recognize if you’re inspired to write by a particular song is that the lyrics are copyrighted. If you plan to include lyrics from the song in your work, be aware that you’re most likely violating that copyright. Yes, even if you make no money. Yes, even if you have the best of intentions. Yes. Just stop, ok? It’s not even really a grey area. If you think your reader needs to hear the song to understand what you’re trying to say, just link to it. It’s 2014 and we have this magical thing called the internet.

There are two better ways to deal with this issue.

One is to write a piece of fiction based on the story you hear in the song. That may or may not match up with the lyrics. That’s ok. A prompt is only a jumping-off point, a diving board into the pool of words that you need to tell a story. If for you Baby It’s Cold Outside is a charming story about a girl’s coming-of-age in a more restrictive era, write that story. You don’t need the lyrics, although you could certainly include a couple, er, couplets, as the couple couples. If you hear that song as the date-rapiest thing since ever, go ahead and write that story. Again, you don’t need to include the lyrics.

The other way to handle songs as prompts is to write a creative nonfiction piece about what the song reminds you of. Do you have flashbacks to your first job every time you hear the Candy Man song from Willy Wonka? Go for it. “I cannot think of the summer of 2004 without hearing, on endless repeat…. ”

In neither case do you need the actual song lyrics.

So go ahead, use music as the starting point for your writing, or use it to keep you in the zone once you’re typing away.

Speaking of: optional prompts

Even though the speakeasy and gargleblaster grids are closed for the summer, we know sometimes it’s hard to start writing without a little extra push. Since we can’t put coffee through your monitor, we’ll do the next best thing and feature an optional prompt each week that you can use to strike your creative spark.

This week’s optional prompt is: what is the airspeed velocity of a flying monkey? (Laden or unladen, your choice.)

Don’t blame us. This week’s prompt was specifically requested by one of you (*cough*DragonSpark*cough*) in the comments of the summer series week 1 Wednesday post. This is a tricky one, folks, we know it. Pick it up and fly with it. Go ahead, we double-dog dare you: answer that question in a 42-word gargleblaster, incorporate it in your longer fiction, or use it as inspiration for your nonfiction. You can also feel free to ignore it entirely if you’ve already got a great idea! The best pieces are the ones that push the boundaries. Don’t forget: the usual grid rules apply. [I will write you a love letter if you go outside the rules, and I’m enjoying my summer vacay, so don’t make me! All I want to do this week is take the dogs to the river in this ridiculous heat. /rbg]

• Non-fiction & traditional blog posts: up to 500 words (okay, we’ll give you an extra 100 if you really need it)
• Fiction (a la the speakeasy): up to 750 words
• Gargleblaster: exactly 42 words

Night owls and latecomers welcome!

Don’t let the late hour deter you: there is still time to hop into one of our lounges. Whether you’re looking for general peer-to-peer critiques, small group workshops, or one-on-one editing help, we’ve got the lounge for you. We have seen some really amazing work done over the last few weeks. Don’t you want to give it a try?

• The bronze lounge is free and open to all. Register for the lounge to gain access, and you can join in the peer-to-peer critique fun.
• The silver lounge is a week-long small group writing workshop, and costs $25. Groups of no more than 4 plus an editor will get together for a more traditional workshopping experience.
• The gold lounge is for those who want to work one-on-one with one of our editors. Suzanne P. and Natalie D. are on tap to help you really dig into your writing, from the nuts and bolts of grammar and punctuation to the broader topics of themes and storylines. For only $50 you won’t find a better place to review your work.

All silver and gold lounge entries will automatically be added to the end-of-summer invitational grid (regardless of word count, and with the author’s permission). And because you’ve all been playing so nicely together, the editors will add a few of their favorite bronze lounge pieces as well.

In the meantime, take that piece you submitted in the lounge this past week and edit it. Pay attention to what your peers and editors have to say. Then  go ahead and submit your revised piece to the next supergrid. Don’t forget to link back to the original piece so you can show off your improvement! We’d love to see a footnote telling us what you learned in the process. (Don’t tell anyone, but our Cerberus, Rowan G, said she’d give you a little more room in your word count for this, since your original and revised posts might run right up to your limit. Just don’t abuse the privilege, ok? Shoot for 50-100 extra words, tops. If you have more to say than that, just make another post and link to it from your revised post so curious folks can read.)

Remember, if you’re not signed up already you can register for any lounge at any time. Just try to give us a little heads up for the silver lounge so that we can put together our workshop groups.

Below you’ll find the badge for the summer supergrid #174. Copy the code under the badge and paste it into the html or text view of your blog editor. Having trouble? Contact christine@yeahwrite.me for tech support.

<a href="https://yeahwrite.me/summer-series-174/"> <img src="https://yeahwrite.me/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/summer174.png"> </a>

Summer schedule

In a nutshell, here’s how the summer will play out. All times are Eastern US.

• Sunday, 12:01 am: Kickoff post with preview of upcoming writing topics, summary of summer grid winners, moonshine grid closes
• Tuesday, 12:01 am: Writing topic post #1, summer grid opens for submissions
• Thursday, 12:01 am: Writing topic post #2, summer grid opens for voting
• Friday, 6:00 pm: Voting closes, moonshine grid opens

Yeah write coffeehouse

The coffeehouse is open for business! Planned as a year-round endeavor, the coffeehouse is yeah write’s casual corner where you can meet up for casual small talk, introductions, and other writing-related conversations. The link is in the menu over there to the left, and we’re open 24-7. Stop by and say hello.

And if you’re not signed up for the yeah write e-mail blast, you might want to change that. It’s the fastest way to get all the news. See that little form over there in the left-hand sidebar? Fill that out and you’ll be among the first to know what’s going on!