Decide to Write

My upcoming events include a novel writing bootcamp at Rutgers curated by

Roxane Gay

on May 11, the Greensboro Bound Festival on May 18, and the #1000wordsofsummer in-person and zoom launch with the NYPL on June 1.

---

Hi friends.

I have sent this instagram post from Hanif Abdurraqib about hitting the bestseller lists for his most recent book to enough people that I should probably write about it for this letter. I’ve read plenty by him in the past that has settled in my soul, but this post felt very current to this project, here, right now, as many of us are getting revved up for generating new work. I’m really interested in this part:

“I decided I wanted to be very good at this book. Not just the writing of it, I decided I wanted to be very good at living alongside it, at living a life that honored everything that went into making it, the lengths I went to in order to chase after a book I couldn’t even describe to myself, let alone anyone else.”

I find this kind of devotion to the life of your creation and the life of being a writer deeply fascinating and inspiring. I don’t think you have to have written a book and be in the process of publishing and promoting to relate to it. It’s not just about how you present something to the world; it’s about how you integrate thinking about a project into your life. How you make time for your creative self. How you value this thing that you’re making enough to get good at all kinds of aspects of it.

You don’t even have to be a writer! There can be any kind of passion you have that you are insistently pursuing. But, of course, mostly what I want for all of you, for me, for any of us, is to simply write.

I love the exhilaration of Hanif’s post, but I also love something like this simple piece on the benefits of journaling for caregivers. I appreciate thinking about writing as a stress release for those who are looking after their loved ones. All the possibilities of writing are dazzling.

Because we don’t have to be the best writers in the world. (We certainly don’t have to be New York Times bestsellers. That is a hard list to get on, people.) We only have to be good at showing up for ourselves, and our work.

Still, we can feed off the words of someone who is achieving so highly because he is talented but also because he chose to do it. He decided it, and it was true. You can decide to write, too. And then see what comes next. What the words can do for you.

#1000wordsofsummer starts June 1. Coming up in the next few weeks: a FAQ and some strategies on how to prep for the main event and more of me cheering you on.

Jami

p.s. This week’s donation went to various student protestor bail funds across America.

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.