Everything I've Done So Far to Build My Nonfiction Proposal

Weeks of writing hard.

I’m teaching a zoom workshop to get us prepped and ready for 1000 Words of Summer. It’s on May 9. It says it lasts an hour but it’s probably going to go as long as you need, and I’ll answer as many questions as you like after my talk. I am excited to do this and if it works out I’ll try and teach a different workshop this fall. More details here.

I will be appearing at the New Orleans Book Festival this Saturday, March 14 discussing the pros and cons of writing on Substack along with my good friend Maurice.

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Hi friends.

Good morning, it’s 5:30 AM, and it’s still dark outside. This is when I usually write to you. When I’m imagining we are all half-thinking half-dreaming at the same time.

The dog’s asleep at the foot of the bed, and it’s warm enough now that I’m sleeping only half under the covers, but not so warm I have to sleep with the air on yet. The roosters are crowing in the distance. One of my neighbors said they crow directly in her backyard and wake her up every day and she kind of hates them, but for whatever reason they steer clear of my house. I just find them a gentle alarm clock, easy enough to ignore if I like, but they remind me that there is life out there, outside my house, little beings stirring, starting their day, being awake and alive.

The other day at Lauren’s reading here someone said I was living in the country and I agreed, I have always felt like that in this house. To live in a city but to live in the country. That is New Orleans to me.

All week I’ve been writing hard, last week, too, and the weeks before that I was taking notes. It has been extremely pleasurable and freeing. I haven’t even been tracking my word count because I know I’m producing beyond what I usually do. I’ve been generating the proposal of this book I really want to write. One of those books that will overflow with ideas. But it will be short and tight. It will be fun to read. I always want to make something fun to read.

Am I doing this right or wrong, who knows? I’m sure every there are examples of every kind of crazy proposal under the sun out there. But anyway I sat down and tracked my process so far for you in hopes it might be helpful.