#1000WordsofSummer 2024 FAQ

All your questions answered here!

Hi friends.

The seventh year of #1000wordsofsummer starts June 1. There are nearly 40,000 of you signed up. I am so dazzled by this number. I am so dazzled by all of you, frankly, showing up here, whether it’s year after year or your very first time. This is a challenging but rewarding project and I can tell you already: you got this. And I will be here for you.

This year we will also have a community manager who will be joining me in making sure you are all feeling tended to and supported as best we can. There will be more on that below but I just wanted to introduce you to Melissa Kimble, a writer, cultural strategist, and community organizer who has done groundbreaking and inspiring work with her own online collective, #blkcreatives. We are very lucky to have her time this year.

I’ve put together a list of frequently asked questions below and I am leaving the comments open if you have another question. (Please use this specifically for questions only, if you don’t mind.) I will try to answer/update as needed.

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 June 1 you’ll get letters every day for two weeks, through June 14. 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 on creativity, productivity, inspiration and more to the letter. You will write 1000 words each day at home or wherever you write. There is a slack for you to meet other participants and post your daily word count and more. Also people often track their progress on social media with #1000wordsofsummer. I will check in on both twitter (x, sorry, lol) and the slack. There is definitely a community out there if you are interested in accessing it, but it is not required. This is very much about doing your own work. Still, we are all each other’s accountability partners: that is the magic of this project.

At the end of it all, you will have a big pile of words and a sense of accomplishment and hopefully 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.

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 is my personal guideline because it has worked for me. I have published nine books since 2006 with one more on the way this fall, 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 one thousand words of poetry, for example. I think it translates across genre simply as a good day’s work.

What is the subscription for?

Year-round, I donate a portion of your subscriptions to this newsletter to charitable organizations. For the next month (May 14-June 14), 100% of your subscriptions will go to charitable organizations, minus a small amount going to cover some administrative costs. Each contributing author to #1000wordsofsummer will choose an individual organization to which I will donate at least $1000, and I will again be sponsoring a Scholastic Book Fair at a school in New Orleans. If you’re already a regular subscriber, great! Your donations will be included. The goal this year is to again raise $25,000. There are 40,000 of you out there. I think we can do this. Please consider subscribing.

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 personalized copy from me, please order it from Books are Magic by May 29, but really, you can get it wherever you buy books, right now.

However, if it’s not financially available to you to purchase it, 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.

How do I sign up for the slack and what is its purpose?

Here is the invite link to the #1000wordsofsummer slack. (If you have 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.

I have had people request in the past that I set up channels for different cities and time zones 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 work out fairly well. It may require a little tinkering and messaging on your part, but I think it has ended up working out just fine for a lot of people. Also this year, Melissa will be in the slack helping to encourage and support y’all finding each other.

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 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 will be doing the same.

Are there any in-person events?

There are a few, yes! And they are all free!

New York City:

I will be doing this very fun write-along launch with the New York Public Library at the Hudson Park Library on June 1. There are a few zoom tickets left for this as of May 14.

Later, the same day, I will be hosting a happy hour/write-along at St. Mazie in Williamsburg with readings from contributors Isaac Fitzgerald and Rebecca Carroll. There are a few in-person tickets left for this as of May 14. The wonderful WORD bookstore will be selling books there.

New Orleans:

Catch me selling my stash of first editions and talking about the project at Pond Coffee’s sidewalk sale on May 25.

And on June 8, I’ll be hosting a mid-#1000wordsofsummer-get-you-across-the-finish-line happy hour/write-along at Lowpoint Coffee from 5-7 PM.

Thank you to all these venues for supplying the space and supporting this project!

One final thought.

I learned a few years ago 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 slack, the monitoring of social media. And I can 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. Please continue to be kind to each other.

Sending you all my love and enthusiasm,

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.