What the Workshop Version of Myself Would Say About My Work

Picture me raising my hand.

Reminder: #1000wordsofsummer starts in one week, on Saturday, May 31. The FAQ is here, and some suggestions for how to prep for it are here. Please consider subscribing to support our fundraiser.

---

Hi friends.

Hope you’re having a great long weekend.

Before I get to meat of this letter I just wanted to let you know that for the first time, I am opening up the chat channel to answer any of your questions about #1000wordsofsummer, writing, or anything at all. This will be happening Wednesday night, from 6-9 PM CST, and it will be for paid subscribers only. So now is an excellent time to get your donation in for this year’s fundraiser.

Also, at 9 AM CST, on May 31, the first day of #1000wordsofsummer, I will be live streaming for like a half hour on Substack, just doing a little kick-off. I hope it will not be a disaster. This will be free for everyone. I will try and say some encouraging words and if you’re new here, I can give you the history of this project, too. So put those two things on your calendar, and do not forget to donate!

Yesterday was a big day for me. I read from my novel-in-progress in public for the first time. And, to my surprise, I also finished my first draft of it! (I thought I had at least another week to go.)

I’ll talk about the reading first. It was held at Three Muses, a bar on Frenchman Street, in front of a small but attentive audience. It was cool to read in a venue that is traditionally used for music—in fact, the whole street is dedicated to musical performances. So the nerds crashed it for the day, and it was so much fun.

And the open mic portion was great. There was a woman there who had never read from her work in public before and she was such a good reader, and I was really proud of her. I was just so pleased to share a stage with all those people.

Next, my dear and brilliant friend, the award-winning novelist Katy Simpson Smith (a contributor to #1000wordsofsummer in 2023!), read from her work-in-progress and it also went over so well. I was happy to hear what she was up to—I am always curious about my friends’ work—and to see how she’s evolved as a reader after all these years of knowing her.