1,000 Words of Summer prep list
1,000 Words of Summer prep list
Getting ready to write 14,000 words in 14 days
1,000 Words of Summer starts June 17 and I am officially in prep mode.
In case you’re not familiar with it, 1,000 Words of Summer is an annual happening hosted by Jami Attenberg during which almost 30k writers commit to writing 1,000 words a day for two weeks. Jami sends out daily emails and there’s a Slack where we all encourage each other. This will be my sixth (!!!) year doing it and I look forward to it more each year. It’s never easy (I am a SLOW writer, typically writing 100-150 words on a really good day) but I always finish with a ton of new material and a lot of energy and excitement.
1,000 Words of Summer prep looks a little different each year. In 2021, I focused on inviting in the multipliers. In 2022, I made a list of scenes I felt were missing from the novel and lined up a bunch of books and movies that had the same vibe I was going for.
This year, I’ve decided to use 1,000 Words of Summer to draft as many short story beginnings as I can. Here’s my to-do list between now and then:
Read at least one short story per day.
Clear out the calendar as much as possible.
Delete all non-essential apps. (I might keep Instagram but limit it to 10 minutes a day, just so I can share 1,000 Words progress and encourage other 1,000 Words folks who are sharing there…)
Create a playlist of audio short stories to listen to instead of podcasts.
Generate a list of story ideas so I can hit the ground running.
Already this month I’ve read some fantastic short stories: “Goodbye and Good Luck” by Grace Paley (from the collection The Little Disturbances of Man), “The Meeting” by Alix Ohlin (from VQR), “What Next” by Vauhini Vara (from One Story), “Long Island” by Nicole Krauss (from The New Yorker), and “How I Became a Vet” by Rivka Galchen (also The New Yorker).
Anyone else out there doing 1,000 Words of Summer this year? How are you preparing?