Day 10 of #1000wordsofsummer 2022
Day 10 of #1000wordsofsummer 2022
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Hi friends.
Today you will write 1000 words. Because you want to set your world on fire with your words and emerge from it, soot-covered, but new, brand new. Shed some skin today with your words. Draw some blood. Write as if someone is chasing you. Write with electricity. Shock yourself, surprise yourself. Today, when you sit down to write, be a firecracker, going off in the night.
Consider this letter an acknowledgement of all you’ve accomplished so far, and an infusion of hope and energy as we near the end of this project together. Not every day is going to be easy. It’s about problem-solving, and it’s about an accumulation of words, and it’s about a steadfast commitment to seeing things through to the end. This is work. This is the work. But if you’ve made it this far, you can absolutely make it through to the final day.
I haven’t lived in New York City in nearly seven years but I still think all the time about the greatest day of the year in that town: Marathon Day. The way entire neighborhoods of all kinds of people line the streets to cheer people on, hold up funny signs, clap and holler and hoot for all the runners.
In my old neighborhood of South Williamsburg, when the runners passed by on Bedford Ave, they had already been running for a while, though they still had a ways to go. But they were in it, the runners. They were in this race. You could see it in their eyes. How could you not cheer for that?
I’m just over here handing you a cup of water, as you sweat your way to the end.
Day 10, let’s go!
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.
It’s early. Reading without glasses I smile at the last line ...swear to the end. Because that’s how I roll. Pedaling up hills I know I’m doing ok if I can still yell out my swears. It’s when I’m quiet I know I’m done for.
Oh, I see, sweat it out. That works too! Thank you for the encouragement!!
I used to live in Williamsburg too, back in the day when the old Polish ladies scrubbed their stoops in the morning & there wasn't a cappucino to be found. The Marathoners went past the end of my street & I could hear the thudding long before I saw their bodies. It was extraordinary. And somehow much more . . . exhilarating than me sitting down in front of the manuscript and saying "okay, now *what* are you trying to tell me?"