I love Catherine Lacey! I’m reading Biography of X right now! It is brilliant and the best reading ever! I love her pep talk too, and the notion of staying hydrated and nourished. I’m writing today at the courthouse thanks to my jury summons - people complain about jury duty, but I love it! It’s a civic sponsored writing and reading residency. They even give you half pencils to get going on your observations of the swirl of humanity. Thanks to Jami and Catherine for the encouragement and perspective that writing topics and opportunities abound!
I felt like my mind and heart expanded reading your and Catherine's words today! What an exhortation to honor our commonality and individuality all at once! Jami, your intro to Day13 hits the spot for me. Substack is not available and accessible to all. It requires having sufficient internet, data, and equipment to use the web-based version, which is required to develop and sustain a newsletter. I'm writing and drawing daily about all of the people I know doing incredible community development work in Africa - local people helping local people - trying to help tell their stories to a larger world. It's not about me, it's about them. Yet, there is part of me in everything I write.
Exactly what I needed to read today. I just refilled my huge jar of water and have been having a helluva time getting into my 1000 words since yesterday, when I only clocked 698 and fell into discouragement. One of my surprises of this year is "meeting" many great new writers I never "knew" before. So much gratitude.
1,082 today. I was naughty and fuelled myself with coffee, but it's basically water, right? Another great post, but can't help feeling a little sad that the journey is almost over. Seriously considering just carrying on, using 'Book Jami' as my daily prompt instead of 'SubStack Jami'. Onwards!
There's always, always something special in these daily notes. I've been doing #1000words for a few years now, & it's still so fresh. For me, Catherine Lacey's point that we storytellers are part of a collective humanity was much needed today. I am just 1 person wrestling with a story, but contributing to a, the, world, too. So thanks! I think I can write today!
"The point of writing and reading is communion with others." Wow. Thank you for this reminder. I believe that at my core and yet, it can be so easy to get caught in the web of trying to be original or... something indefinable - like an impossible goal. What a beautiful reminder that this thing we do is simply for the magical and mysterious purpose of bringing about more unity in the world. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Day 13: 1,188 words this morning and will pop in an extra session tonight to make up for yesterday's shortfall. Ooh, this one really hit today: "The point of writing and reading is communion with others. It's not about you." I just had a convo with a non-writer friend yesterday who asked me if I was tired of working on this story I'm returning to after I finish my new work this week. I said exactly that! That it's not about me, it's about my dream kid readers who need stories, all the stories. We all need all the stories! I LOVE this: "Give yourself what you need to sustain a level of creative activity in a focused and healthy way." Art, walks, other people's dogs, friends, yoga, dancing, swimming, gardening, taking a break when I need it! I'm not great at it, but I'm getting better. Thanks for the reminder. A peaceful mind is a creative mind, or so they say. It feels true to me.
I love Catherine Lacey! I’m reading Biography of X right now! It is brilliant and the best reading ever! I love her pep talk too, and the notion of staying hydrated and nourished. I’m writing today at the courthouse thanks to my jury summons - people complain about jury duty, but I love it! It’s a civic sponsored writing and reading residency. They even give you half pencils to get going on your observations of the swirl of humanity. Thanks to Jami and Catherine for the encouragement and perspective that writing topics and opportunities abound!
This one HIT
I felt like my mind and heart expanded reading your and Catherine's words today! What an exhortation to honor our commonality and individuality all at once! Jami, your intro to Day13 hits the spot for me. Substack is not available and accessible to all. It requires having sufficient internet, data, and equipment to use the web-based version, which is required to develop and sustain a newsletter. I'm writing and drawing daily about all of the people I know doing incredible community development work in Africa - local people helping local people - trying to help tell their stories to a larger world. It's not about me, it's about them. Yet, there is part of me in everything I write.
Exactly what I needed to read today. I just refilled my huge jar of water and have been having a helluva time getting into my 1000 words since yesterday, when I only clocked 698 and fell into discouragement. One of my surprises of this year is "meeting" many great new writers I never "knew" before. So much gratitude.
We are all in this together ❤️.
1,082 today. I was naughty and fuelled myself with coffee, but it's basically water, right? Another great post, but can't help feeling a little sad that the journey is almost over. Seriously considering just carrying on, using 'Book Jami' as my daily prompt instead of 'SubStack Jami'. Onwards!
There's always, always something special in these daily notes. I've been doing #1000words for a few years now, & it's still so fresh. For me, Catherine Lacey's point that we storytellers are part of a collective humanity was much needed today. I am just 1 person wrestling with a story, but contributing to a, the, world, too. So thanks! I think I can write today!
This is brilliant, and exactly the reward I deserved for hitting 13k words.
"The point of writing and reading is communion with others." Wow. Thank you for this reminder. I believe that at my core and yet, it can be so easy to get caught in the web of trying to be original or... something indefinable - like an impossible goal. What a beautiful reminder that this thing we do is simply for the magical and mysterious purpose of bringing about more unity in the world. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Day 13: 1,188 words this morning and will pop in an extra session tonight to make up for yesterday's shortfall. Ooh, this one really hit today: "The point of writing and reading is communion with others. It's not about you." I just had a convo with a non-writer friend yesterday who asked me if I was tired of working on this story I'm returning to after I finish my new work this week. I said exactly that! That it's not about me, it's about my dream kid readers who need stories, all the stories. We all need all the stories! I LOVE this: "Give yourself what you need to sustain a level of creative activity in a focused and healthy way." Art, walks, other people's dogs, friends, yoga, dancing, swimming, gardening, taking a break when I need it! I'm not great at it, but I'm getting better. Thanks for the reminder. A peaceful mind is a creative mind, or so they say. It feels true to me.
I really love this ❤️