Day 1 of #1000wordsofsummer 2024

Hi friends.

Today you will write 1000 words. Because you believe in yourself, and your ideas, and what you have to say. Pure and simple, you have shown up here today because you believe writing, your writing, the act of it, has value. To yourself, and to a collective energy in the world. And you are correct. Writing these 1000 words is important and has meaning. You are in the right place. The magic of writing 1000 words, for all of us, starts now. And trust me, honey, you got this.

Welcome to #1000wordsofsummer. This is our seventh year together, and there are tens of thousands of people participating all over the world. Incredible! I am glad you are here. I love that you want to make something new all by yourself. No short-cuts. Just you on the page. Your original words. Your original ideas.

I am honored to be sending these letters to you once again. This morning I was writing about my own work in my journal, and I wrote, “The book can be anything you want.” And then I made a little noise of relief because I needed to hear that, I needed to remind myself of that. So I offer that to you. My idea for the day. My personal vibe. My guiding light. Anything you want. On the page. Today.

If you are just showing up now—we’ve had a bunch of new people sign up in the past week!—there is a FAQ, and here is more about me.

But, briefly, this is how it works: every day you will get a letter from me, encouraging you, and then we will write 1000 words. Starting tomorrow, these letters will also include a note each day from a contributing author, sharing their thoughts on writing, creativity, productivity and more.

There is also a slack you can join where you can meet other participants and track your daily word count. Cheer each other on! Support each other. I also check in on the #1000wordsofsummer hashtag on twitter. The collective energy is one of the best parts of this project.

The project is also a fundraiser, so if you’re able, I would ask you to consider subscribing. We are raising money for all kinds of charities this year, including sponsoring a Scholastic Book Fair for an entire school in New Orleans.

There is also a book! It is not required that you buy it, but I do think it is chockful of inspiration and helpful year-round and not just for these two weeks.

That’s it for today. Tomorrow you will get another letter from me, this time including the words of one of our guest contributing writers. It’s a good one, inspiring, and I think you’re going to love it.

Are you ready? Then let’s get started, together, right now. One thousand words. Let’s freaking go.

Jami

I’m also on twitter and instagram.