Hi friends.
How’s your brain doing? How’s your writing? How’s your focus? How’s your motivation?
If you’re yelling, “Not good, dude!” at this computer screen, I am receiving your howl. I hear it, and I feel it. But also: I bet it’s all better than you think.
My sense is that if you signed up to get little nerdy letters about writing and creativity from me that you’re probably the “no one is harder on me than myself” type. But did you know that if you get even a little bit of your creative work done today you have accomplished something?
Whatever you do, don’t talk yourself out of writing because you don’t think it can be all that you want it to be today. Don’t say “why even bother” to yourself if you’re feeling off. Because our work is made up of an accrual of words over time. And an off day can switch so easily to an on day—if you get a little something done.
For me it’s all about the first two hours of the day. This is when I best have the chance to turn my off day into an on day. Those are the moments I write without judgement.
It’s about reading whatever book I’m reading just enough to get my brain going and then making a cup of coffee and sitting down with my notebook and letting that engine roar. The way my mood uplifts and heightens over the course of those two hours feels like a miracle. The sun rises while I write. Somewhere in there I give thanks to whatever force exists that has let me have those two hours for myself in the quiet of the morning.
I fight for those two hours every day in the morning. For my attention, for my focus. But I know that block of time is not available to everyone. Sometimes it’s just you scribbling in your notebook for a half hour during lunch break and sometimes it’s recording a voice memo as you drive to work and sometimes it’s a long note you write yourself between train stops. But it’s a feeling and it’s a block of time and it’s a bunch of words and it’s all yours. It’s possible. And it’s worth fighting for.
Find your time today. Turn that off day into an on day. I know you can do it. Start by reading a poem. Maybe read the last paragraph of a book you loved. Hell, read three of them. Then read the acknowledgments section. Think about who supports you. Think about who you support. Think about what you believe in, what’s important to you. All of this can happen in a flash.
Now go re-read the last thing you wrote. Find a paragraph of yours you liked. Or even a sentence. Now write another one. Start your engines. You’re ready. Turn it on. Today.
Jami
You are reading Craft Talk, the home of #1000wordsofsummer and also a weekly newsletter about writing from Jami Attenberg. I’m also on bluesky and instagram.
This is a little more time-consuming but I really loved this piece about memorizing poems instead of looking at your phone and I genuinely believe this could have a healthy impact on your writing (gift link) https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/25/magazine/morning-ritual-poetry-memorization.html?unlocked_article_code=1.104.46QJ.5dWV7Y_g94Mu&smid=url-share
Inspiration and reminders I need, thank you.
With running, as a running coach, I like to tell others and myself, "Never judge a run by its first mile." It's awkward, stiff, discouraging. But after the warmup, magic can happen; you can run places and go father than that first mile suggests. Same with getting back into a writing project and working past that first paragraph.