for writers who blog and bloggers who write
What’s inspiring you?
I love books and movies. They’ve always served as inspiration for my own writing. Seeing the way another writer crafted a story not only helps me learn, but can push me a little when I’m not sure how I want to say what I want to say. I also enjoy episodic programming for it’s short bursts of storytelling, either as a self-contained narrative or something that carries over across a season. And then there’s comics. I’ve recently been reading many more and I’m hooked. Every genre and medium gives me a little something different, opening a different door in my mind.
How about you? What do you read or watch to get your creative juices flowing?
Labor Day micro challenge
Labor Day is tomorrow here in the U.S. so we’re mixing it up over on the fiction|poetry grid by offering a micro challenge, reminiscent of the old days of early 2016. If you’re looking for something new to try or missing our old challenge, make sure you check that out on Tuesday!
Yeah write super challenge #2
Also, make sure you check in on Friday for announcements regarding our next super challenge. This one will be for all you fictioneers out there so don’t miss out on any updates. Sign up for our mailer today! We promise not to spam you.
The basics
Yeah write gives you two competitive challenge grids — nonfiction and fiction|poetry — both of which are unmoderated. Everyone gets to the voting round on Thursday. (Remember, your post must be dated appropriately, not be offensive to our audience, and cannot be over word count.) Got a question? E-mail us, tweet us, ping us on Facebook, or visit our online community, the yeah write coffeehouse. You can learn more about yeah write in our FAQ. Please make sure you are familiar with our submission guidelines before you enter. We don’t have a lot of rules, but we do enforce them across the board. We’d hate to see anyone get disqualified by a technicality.
Bring us your personal essays and creative nonfiction!
The nonfiction challenge grid opens on Monday at midnight EST. This is the best place on the ‘net to showcase your best writing. Make us laugh, make us cry, make us think, and above all: make us care.
Nonfiction know-how: brevity
For this month’s nonfiction know-how we’re going to focus on two conflicting aphorisms. The first is “winners never quit; quitters never win” and the second is “quit while you’re ahead.” We’re not talking about quitting writing entirely, of course, but we’re talking about knowing when to stop, and how much is enough. This month, Rowan offers up some advice on how to know when enough is enough.
Is fiction more your thing?
The fiction|poetry grid opens on Tuesday. Grab a mic and join our monthly poetry slam or check out our weekly prompt up!
Prompt up!
Prompt up is our optional weekly writing prompt for the fiction|poetry challenge! Here’s how it works: we choose a sentence prompt from last week’s winning nonfiction post and announce it in the kickoff. It’s your job to use that prompt as the first sentence in your poem or story and then run with it. The prompt is just a springboard, though: feel free to keep it as your first sentence, move it, change it, or float down it to other territories.
With two young children around, Danielle can’t catch a moment’s peace. This week’s prompt, taken from her essay Could I Please Pee In Peace?, is: She put it in the trashcan.
You can use the prompt up as you usually do. Or you can pop over to the fiction|poetry kickoff post on Tuesday for more details on the microstory challenge!
May poetry slam: triolet
For the return of the poetry slam, let’s pull out all the stops and work on a short form called the triolet. Even though there are only eight lines in a triolet, it’s a great chance to work on rhyme, scansion, and even picking out a good refrain. Because it’s been a while since you wrote a poem, Rowan will take a minute for a quick refresher on how rhyme and scansion work. If you’re already the most iambic poet that ever sonneted a villanelle, skip it, and get to work!
Winners’ round-up
In case you missed them, you can find last week’s yeah write staff picks and crowd favorites all laid out for you on Friday’s winners’ post. Leave the winners some love in the comments. They will love you right back, we guarantee it.
Weekend writing showcase
The weekend’s not over: the moonshine grid is still open. Have something to add? Old posts and new are welcome. No moderation, no voting. It’s a laid-back relaxed kind of place. Just leave your commercial or sponsored posts at home. Drop by, share your work, and while you’re there, visit your fellow yeah writers.