1000 Words of Summer 2026 FAQ

Starts May 30, Slack is now open.

Hi friends.

The ninth (!!!) year of #1000wordsofsummer starts May 30 and runs through June 12. There are more than 50,000 people signed up to write 1000 words a day alongside each other every day for two weeks straight. I’m so happy you’re here! Now let’s get some damn writing done.

Welcome to you if you’re a first-timer! Below are the frequently asked questions and I am leaving the comments open if you have another question. (I love your enthusiasm but please just use this FAQ for questions, thank you.) I will try to answer/update as needed. If you’ve done this before, not much has changed, but I am just happy to welcome you back.

Also real quick: I will remind you that every year we raise money for charity. So if you’re not a subscriber, please do so for the month (or the year or whatever you feel like) now. This will give you access to back archives and the ability to comment as well! But more importantly you are supporting the 1000 Words charities. The money we raise is a big deal. Please help out.

Boy, do I hate asking for money. But OK! We got that done. And here we go:

How do I sign up for #1000wordsofsummer?

If you are signed up for this newsletter then that’s it. You’re here and done. Starting on May 30 you’ll get letters every day for two weeks, through June 12. If you’re not interested or you will be annoyed to get emails every day in a row from me for two weeks straight, please unsubscribe! I don’t want to annoy you.

How does it work?

Every day you get a letter from me encouraging you to write. Most days another published author will contribute additional thoughts to the letter on creativity, productivity, inspiration and more. You will write 1000 words each day at home or wherever you write. At the end of it all, you will hopefully have a big pile of words, a sense of accomplishment and the inspiration to keep going.

Through this project people have: made friends, built cohorts and writing groups, finished proposals and entire books, sold and published those books, and in fact written all kinds of things, but perhaps most importantly, found their voices. I hope that it ends up being meaningful for you in one way or another.

How do I connect with other people doing this project?

There is a slack for you to meet other participants and post your daily word count and more. Here is the link to it. (This link is slippery and sometimes expires so don’t freak out if it doesn’t work—just comment below and I will update it as best I can.) The slack is probably the most concentrated place for you to meet other people.

But there are also plenty of people tracking their progress on various forms of social media with #1000wordsofsummer. I am somewhat on bluesky and will check in there throughout the day, as well as instagram. We all can be each other’s accountability partners: for many, that is the magic of this project.

But I hate social media, do I have to?

Nope. There is definitely a community out there if you are interested in accessing it, but it is not required. This project is equally about doing your own work.

Why 1000 words though?

Since I began writing books in earnest, I have used 1000 words a day as my regular writing goal. It’s about four typed pages double-spaced. If I write 1000 words a day, five days a week, give or take time for edits, research, and other job responsibilities, I can finish a messy-as-hell first draft in about six months. It usually takes me another six months to get it in enough shape to be able to share it with other people.

The 1000 words is a guideline. It’s my personal guideline because it has worked for me. I have published ten books since 2006 with an eleventh coming out next year, so I stand behind this premise.

One thousand words may not work for your genre, of course. No one expects the poets out there to write 1000 words of poetry every day, for example. And if you’re revising your work, as I will be doing this year, it may just translate to something like: three hours of uninterrupted deep editing. For general purposes, 1000 words translates across genre simply as a good day’s work.

How do I sign up for the slack and what are its specific purposes?

Again, here is the invite link to the #1000wordsofsummer slack. (If you’ve been on the slack in previous years, you should still be registered.)

The slack is where you can do a variety of things to connect with other people or find support.

I currently have it set up so you can:

• Introduce yourself.

• Post your daily word count.

• Find a writing group or accountability partner.

• Post your success stories.

• Engage in general chit-chat.

• Post pictures of your pet.

• Share some of your favorite writing prompts.

In the past, I’ve had people request that I set up channels for different cities and time zones or genre, but it’s just too complicated with so many people participating. Instead I have suggested that people create separate slacks for their cities, genres, etc., and that has seemed to be a helpful solution. It may require a little tinkering and messaging on your part, but it has ended up working out just fine for a lot of people.

Do I need to buy the 1000 WORDS book to participate?

You do not! Although I think it is a wonderful and encouraging companion to this project, as well as to your productivity year-round. If you would like to get a signed copy from me, you can order it from my local bookstore, or you can get it wherever you buy books.

I want to stress that if you’re not able to purchase it right now, you can also check it out of your local library. I put together this book for it be useful and for it to be read so I just want you to get your hands on it.

For more on the book: here’s 1000 WORDS on “The Today Show”, on NPR, and in Elle.

Once again, what is the subscription for?

Year-round, I donate a portion of your subscriptions to this newsletter to charitable organizations. For the next month, 100% of your subscriptions will go to charitable organizations, minus a small amount going to cover some administrative costs, including paying for our moderators.

Each contributing author to 1000 Words will choose an individual organization to which we will donate $1000, and, for the third year in a row, we will again be sponsoring a Scholastic Book Fair at a school in New Orleans. (See adorable pics from last year’s book fair here.)

If you’re already a regular subscriber, great! Your donations will be included. If you want to donate more than your subscription, you can venmo me directly.

Who’s running this show?

Well there’s me, Jami Attenberg, the New York Times bestselling author of ten books, including eight novels, one memoir, and the book version of this project, and the creator of #1000wordsofsummer. (You can learn more about me here.) And I will be sending out the letter and moderating everything that’s happening on the substack.

But also we will have two community managers responsible for moderating the slack. Once again we will be joined by Melissa Kimble, a writer, cultural strategist, and community organizer who has done groundbreaking and inspiring work with her own online collective, #blkcreatives. She was extremely beloved the last two years, and we are very lucky to have her time again.

This year also sees the return of eternally optimistic Brooke Pickett. Brooke is a visual artist who previously served as the Executive Director of 826 New Orleans. She is also a trained mediator and facilitator who collaborates with some of the most radically equitable organizations across the South. (I interviewed her here.)

Can you provide me with any kind of technical support?

Probably not. Both substack and slack have their own help sections so I would suggest checking them first before emailing us.

Can I sell my services on the slack?

Absolutely not.

Can I use AI to write my 1000 words?

Well, you wouldn’t be writing them then, would you? Here are my thoughts at length on using AI to generate your creative work. Short version is: thumbs down.

Do your own work. You’re going to get a lot out of it. I promise.

Can I talk to you, Jami, some more about what I’m working on or email you some other thoughts?

You can try but you will probably not get a response. But listen—there is a big, beautiful community of people out there available on the slack or twitter or other forms of social media. And I promise you I am watching over all of you and will dive in where I can. And Melissa and Brooke will be doing the same.

One final thought.

I learned a few years into this project that there is no way for me to support all of you individually. I would if I could. What I can do is create the infrastructure of this project. The letters, the book, the slack, the monitoring of social media. And I can—and do—rely on you all to be a part of this community. To be helpful and encouraging. It has touched me deeply over the years to watch people reach out to each other and connect through this project, and I have loved hearing the stories of that connection. Please continue to be kind to each other. We all need it.

Jami

You are reading Craft Talk, the home of #1000wordsofsummer and also a weekly newsletter about writing from Jami Attenberg. I’m also on twitter and instagram.