Hi friends.
Today we will write 1000 words. Because we are in search of a good sentence.
The good sentence keeps us going. The quest for it drives us every time we sit down to work.
Finding that one sentence that lands perfectly, says and does all that we need it to do. A sublime execution of all our skills. The intersection of what we believe, the feelings we need to convey, and our personal style. We are speaking in our most confident voice then, telling the reader exactly what we want them to know at that moment in the story.
Is the good sentence…sexy? Maybe.
It’s not just a sentence, of course. It’s evidence. Proof that you have something to say and you know how to say it. And if you can land one good sentence, surely you can write another.
I like to think of all the sentences as holding hands with one another. Even if I have a crap day (or week) of writing, there’s usually one sentence in there that’s reaching out, waiting for another one to join with it. If I can land just one, I can build a whole world around it.
Think about that feeling of reading a book, and you happen upon a sentence and it absolutely blows you away. You underline it. Perhaps you take a screenshot of it. You post it on social media. Or you handwrite it in your journal to study it. Maybe you read it out loud to yourself or someone else. Now that’s a sentence, you think.
Think about that little shift in you that occurs after you encounter it.
That sentence is our North Star today.
Feel free to leave a favorite sentence in the comments.
Good luck to you all. I know you’re working hard and I’m proud of you.
Jami
Gah. Missed it.
2967. Not all new words. I'm just lucky enough that on Day 2 I was able to save most of a chapter (with heavy edits) from the first draft of my novel to use in the second draft. I think this will be rare so I'm going to enjoy it. Favorite sentence: "By the early afternoon, the large, uncovered classroom windows ushered in shifting, angular patches of sunshine that landed on our ersatz wooden desktops, leaving them warm to the touch."