1000 Words Book Announcement

Hi friends.

When I started #1000wordsofsummer five years ago, it was just a fun thing to try on the internet. I got to meet some cool people and we all got a lot of writing done. And for two weeks a year we all felt a little less alone in the world and that seemed like gift enough. Now it’s going to be a book!

I wrote the proposal for it this summer, a mostly spur-of-the-moment idea. I was directly inspired to write it after this year’s session in June after witnessing the incredible love and support in the community and reviewing the quality of the author letters not just this year but all years past. I thought I understood fully for the first time what the project was, and how it worked, and what it could do for people. Suddenly I saw how I could turn it into a book, and why that book would be helpful. It felt like it needed to exist.

I worked on the proposal for a few weeks with wonderful guidance from my agent Katherine Fausset. From start-to-finish, I think it was a six-week process to sell this book. It genuinely felt like it was supposed to happen. I couldn’t be more thrilled to be working with whip-smart Veronica Alvarado and the great folks at Simon Element.

I’ll still be publishing my fiction with my incredible publisher Ecco and my long-time, beloved editor Helen Atsma (there will be a new novel coming out hopefully sometime in 2024), but putting together this book was really calling to me in this moment. To be able to collect all the ideas and letters from #1000wordsofsummer in one spot and expand on them, and also to honor the community and the spirit with which we all work together? Seems like a goddamn dream.

Thanks for being here and being a part of this. I’ll try to do it all justice.

Jami