A Wee #1000wordsofsummer Update

Get your pens ready.

Hi friends.

Does anyone want a little #1000wordsofsummer update?

Please mark your calendar for May 31-June 13, because that is when it is happening. I have secured twelve contributing authors, one of whom has already quite responsibly sent me her letter ahead of the deadline, and it is very good and sweet and inspiring and thoughtful so I can tell it’s going to be a great year already.

I ask authors this far in advance because everyone is busy. A cool professional tip here: If you’re going to ask people for favors, give them a lot of time to do it!

Also every year I’m really grateful to the authors who say yes and also totally respect the people who are like, these are my time boundaries so I am sorry I have to say no. I have learned over the years that is the churn of this kind of project, when you are asking people to donate their time. You have to ebb and flow with it all. Not everyone can say yes to everything. (I certainly don’t!)

If this is your first time doing #10000wordsofsummer, I really recommend reading the book version of it. The hardcover is on sale at the moment but also you can just check it out of the library. I put this book together to be a helpful tool, so I’m happy for you to access it however it is possible for you. (By the way, I have honestly heard good things about the audiobook, which I narrated my part of!)

If you live in New Orleans, I am going to do an in-person write-along launch here. I loved doing the launch in New York City last year, but if I am going to be real here all the travel was exhausting and I felt like I was really pushing myself a little bit too hard. I’m estimating based on growth in the past we’re going to have more than 50k (!) people signed up for this newsletter by then (it’s at 48.5k right now), and that is just a lot of questions to answer and, in general, vibes to manage, even with help. So I’m going to take a break this year from getting off and on planes in the middle of all that.

Also I would like to get some solid work done on my own project. This year I will hopefully be finishing up that first draft. I’ve been chipping away over here at the new one and I really think I can bring it on home at that moment with that extra 14k words. It’s so helpful to think ahead in three (or six) month blocks of time and try to visualize where you’re going to be with your project by then. That’s something you can always do during a downtime: check in, analyze, plot for the future.

So look: we’re about three and half months away from #1000wordsofsummer now. Can you take a few minutes to contemplate what you want to accomplish between now and then? Can you plan even a little bit what you’ll want to be working on the first two weeks of June? Will you be mid-project? Will this be a time to start something from scratch just for fun? Will you be ready to join me in finishing a first draft?

Even just writing to you now about all this got me so excited for this summer. I know that everything is tough right now but remember your writing is just for you, that is your gift to yourself, so it is important to stay focused on it. I’m leaving the comments open today to everyone for you to take a moment to daydream about the future.

I hope we’ll all be together this summer.

Jami

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