1000 Words of Summer 2026 - Day 3

A letter from Xochitl Gonzalez.

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Hi friends.

Today you will write 1000 words. Because when you write, you create new spaces for yourself, new avenues, new portals. New opportunities. Doesn’t that sound exhilarating? Writing gives you the chance to be an inventor of something that has never existed before. And that comes out of hard work and sure, a little bit magic—but none of that exists if you don’t show up for yourself. Today, we grab hold of some new possibilities. With our 1000 words.

Day 3, and I know many of you are back to work after a nice, long weekend of writing. Good luck to the early morning risers and the late-night scribblers. I know you can do this. I know you can keep on writing. Please remember that we are all cheering you on.

Today’s contributing writer is a real superstar: the New York Times bestselling author and screenwriter Xochitl Gonzalez. She burst into the literary scene with her wildly popular debut Olga Dies Dreaming, which the Los Angeles Times described as, “The sharpest and best written social comedy in a while.” Her political writings on gentrification, the class divide and more at The Atlantic earned her recognition as a finalist for the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in Commentary. Her latest book, the USA Today bestseller Last Night in Brooklyn, a re-telling of Gatsby set in early-aughts Brooklyn, was described in a starred review from Kirkus as, “Smart, tough-minded, and passionate: a pleasure from start to finish.”

She has a truly original and utterly convincing voice, is an absolute badass and also a great hang. Count me a fan. And Xochitl is extremely generous with her time, serving on the Board of Trustees of the Brooklyn Public Library, where she has asked her donation go this year.

Today she talks about how to forage our way through the world in search of our books—especially when we have to make time to do it.