A reminder that you can get #1000wordsofsummer t-shirts and mugs today and tomorrow and then they will disappear for a long time, possibly forever! Check them out here.
Hey everyone,
Today we will write 1000 words, together. Even if it feels hard, on this fifth day in a row of writing. Even if we think we have nothing left to say. Some days it’s just going to feel that way. But I promise you there is plenty left to talk about. We contain an ocean of words within us. There is always a feeling to be tracked, a memory waiting to be tapped, an idea we have not yet explored. Today we keep digging. Today we push further. Today we keep writing.
Good morning from New Orleans, where it is still dark outside and the old dog is snoring at my feet. When I woke up a friend had texted me gossip, so already I can tell this is going to be a great day. I rose early because I had so many ideas in my head that I made myself get up before I forgot them all. Things are creatively fruitful right now. The words are piling up. I have a solid outline in place. Even if I worry sometimes that there might be distractions in the future, I am able to keep moving forward.
Just two months ago I told Claire I might throw away this book entirely if I didn’t make some real progress by the summer’s end. A threat to myself more than anything else. Get it together, already. Or you’re going to have to start over again. I promised to work on it diligently and see what came out of it. No secret trick here. Just to sit down and dig and dig every morning. To read and to write and to think. It felt challenging, but I had to try.
And now I can see that it is possible to finish this book. And that it is a story that is worth telling. But I never would have gotten there if I hadn’t sat down and done the work.
I don’t know shit about shit but I know this: things get harder before they get easier. It might feel impossible right now but also what if today is a tipping point instead? What if all the work we’ve been doing is about to add up to something? What if things are just on the verge of falling into place?
Don’t you want to know how it all turns out in the end? I sure do.
Good luck out there. Write like the wind, friends.
Jami
Once again, the perfect words for me today. I am “old” & it’s easy to feel washed up, like I have nothing more to say, that I’m done. I know this isn’t true, but sometimes I believe it & have to talk myself down. Or up. I know it’s an endless process of identifying the ennui & proving it wrong. I just had this conversation with someone. And here you are saying “We contain an ocean of words within us.” Thanks again.
Yes&yes: “Don’t you want to know how it all turns out in the end?”
Thank you for the perfect timing of these words on the wind to nudge me along. And harder before easier. It’s just true!