for writers who blog and bloggers who write
What’s your excuse?
I was talking to a friend recently and he mentioned he’d been stalling on a project because he was waiting to speak to someone on a particular detail. Sounds reasonable, but then he noted the truth was he didn’t really need that conversation to happen for him to do what needed to be done. He had set himself up a roadblock. I laughed because I do the same thing. I decide one inconsequential thing is going to stall an entire task. It rarely works out well.
How about you? What’s your preferred method of stalling your writing?
Yeah write super challenge #2
Did you hear the big news? The next super challenge for all you fictioneers out there is now open for early registration until September 30! Read up on all you need to know here. We are so excited to get this one started and hope you are too!
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.
Nate told us two stories this week linked by being called one epithet in Shoes, or What Not To Do When People Call You Names. This week’s prompt up taken from his story is: The moment with the tall man on the bus happened in a flash.
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.