1,000 Words of Summer 2023, Part 1
1,000 Words of Summer kicked off yesterday. This is my absolute favorite time of year. I love the energy, I love the camaraderie, I love intensity. I love it I love it I love it.
This week in reading
I’m still feeding my brain as many short stories as possible. This week’s included:
“Extracts from a Life” by Lydia Davis, from her Collected Stories
“Penultimate Activities” by Alejandro Zambra, published in The Yale Review’s Spring 2023 issue (the one was with that amazing Garth Greenwell essay)
“What to Save in a Fire” by Kathy Chao, published in Gulf Coast’s Winter/Spring 2023 issue
“Eating Mango Whole” by Stephanie Mullings, published in Boulevard, Vol. 37, Nos. 2 & 3
“Autobiographical Fiction” by Kyle Francis Williams, published in The Southampton Review’s Winter/Spring 2023 issue
“Rabbit Heart” by Aimée Keeble, published in Split Lip
“By the Sea” by Mavis Gallant, published in The New Yorker in 1954 and encountered by me in her Collected Stories
“The Gay Old Dog” by Edna Ferber, published in Metropolitan Magazine in 1917 and encountered by me in 100 Years of the Best American Short Stories
I also went back and read a bunch of my unpublished stories/stories in progress to see if there was anything worth picking back up. I actually found one that I’d finished but forgotten to submit and sent it out!
This week in writing
Leading up to 1,000 Words, I didn’t get much writing done. I did a lot of prep, making lists of story ideas and formats I’d like to try, and cleaning up the Scrivener file where I keep all my short story drafts. Then, yesterday, I got to work.
The first two days of 1,000 Words went fairly smoothly. My kid is sick (never fails to happen during 1,000 Words, Tin House, AWP, you name it) but it’s the weekend and he’s not a baby anymore so it’s actually kind of chill to be able to sit next to him on the couch while he watches TV and get my words in. Not complaining (though I do wish he felt better because it sucks to watch your kid be sick!).
Yesterday, I started a story I’ve been thinking about for years and I don’t think I got the perspective or tone right in the first thousand words but no biggie because I can try again before the end of the challenge.
Today, I started a story inspired by a recent conversation I had with my building’s exterminator. He said to me: “I love bed bugs. I put two kids through college on bed bugs.” I used that as my intro and away we went.
Two days down, twelve to go.
Are you doing 1,000 Words of Summer too? Say hi to me in the Slack and I will cheer you on!