Another quick 1000 Words of Summer check-in. ✔️
Was slightly derailed on Thursday (LIFE) but doubled my word count on Friday and got back on track. I’ve hit the best part of this summer challenge, when the words feel like one long stream and dashing off a thousand words feels quick and easy, when the writing sessions run together. These two weeks never fail to remind me that Annie Dillard was right when she said to “spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it, all, right away, every time,” when she said the words “fill from behind, from beneath, like well water.” Writing begets writing.
A full recap next week, but in the meantime, two podcast recommendations:
Sara Lippmann on The Lives of Writers. I listened to this while running, so it was funny that Sara and host Michael Wheaton discussed running at length. Sara is the second person in our writing group to be interviewed on this excellent podcast (Chris Gonzales was first) and I realize I’m biased, but I found both conversations to be uplifting and life-giving.
Kate Zambreno on Thresholds. This episode is an oldie — it’s from 2020 — but I’m so happy I stumbled across it because Kate speaks about “birth as decreation” in a way that rang very true to me and made me feel seen. It’s a good companion piece to her book To Write As If Already Dead, which she was finishing when the episode was recorded.
Love to everyone else barreling toward a finish line.