“A two-week intensive writing push with an accountability partner.” “Craft Talk” by Jami Attenberg is the home of the #1000wordsofsummer project, a community of writers of all levels who are all supporting each other to write 1,000 words a day for two weeks. This project has been in existence since 2018. The next round starts June 17, 2023 and ends June 30, 2023. When you sign up, during the project, you will receive an email from Jami Attenberg encouraging you to write. Sometimes another published author will contribute their thoughts on creativity, productivity, and inspiration. Your mission, should you decide to accept: Write 1000 words a day for two weeks. “Craft Talk” is a community of writers who are accountability partners: that is the magic of this project. At the end of this challenge, you will have a big pile of words and a sense of accomplishment and hopefully the…
Category: Just Write
The Pulps
The Pulps (1890s-1950s) Made from the cheapest paper available, pulp magazines were among the bestselling fiction publications of their day, with the most popular titles selling hundreds of thousands of copies per month at their height. The pulps paid just a penny or so a word, so writers quickly learned that making a living required a nimble imagination and remarkable speed, with some working on several stories simultaneously. Contemporary fiction writers can learn from pulp magazines the importance of a tight, character-driven narrative; the necessity of imaginative descriptions and how to immediately grab the reader with an action-filled lead. Jack Byrne, managing editor of the pulp magazine publisher fiction House, wrote in an August 1929 Writer’s Digest article detailing the manuscript needs of Fiction House’s 11 magazines: “We must have a good, fast opening. Smack us within the first paragraph. Get our interest aroused. Don’t tell us about the general…
Writing That First Thing
“Remember that when you’re writing that first thing, you’re in an incredibly precious time. When you’re writing that book or that early story, write for yourself first and foremost. There’s going to come a time when that won’t be the case anymore, when there are going to be all these people who are involved. So, don’t be in any great hurry to publish or to get it out there into the world. Take your time to hone and draft that first book. Appreciate those early years where you’re writing for yourself because it never is quite the same once you start publishing.” Excerpt from a Writer’s Digest interview with Brandon Taylor. The bestselling (and Booker Prize-shortlisted) author discusses the interconnectedness of his work, the importance of short stories, and his latest release, The Late Americans. Interviewed Michael Woodson The May/June 2023 issue of Writer’s Digest is all about “Keeping It Short” —short forms of…
Memoir: Writing For Clarity
“I think most memoir writers write first of all for ourselves, not for any specific audience. We write for our own clarity. The painful admissions, the ways in which we are upset by ourselves, our actions, things we did, things we failed to do, all of that has to be honestly faced. No point in skirting the truth. Who would we be fooling? Ourselves?” — Abigail Thomas Excerpt from “Memoir is Exploration, So Keep Yourself Open: An Interview with Abigail Thomas” By Dinty W. Moore, Brevity magazine Abigail Thomas is the author of many acclaimed memoirs, including A Three Dog Life, Safekeeping, and What Comes Next and How to Like It. She lives in Woodstock, New York, with her dogs. Dinty W. Moore is the founder and editor of Brevity magazine and is likely out in his garden at this very moment.
Simple listening allows sparkling . . .
“A dear friend gave me a small notebook, with a sun on the cover. I often find myself writing in it while drinking my morning coffee, mostly just short phrases or impressions. It reminds of the simple listening that allows sparkling dew drop images to appear.” — Pam Hiller You can read more of Pam’s writing: Journey on The Write Spot Blog and in The Write Spot to Jumpstart Your Writing: Discoveries. #justwrite #amwriting #iamawriter
Motto for 2023 . . . Prompt #702
What will your motto be for 2023? #justwrite #iamwriting #iamawriter
270 Park Avenue
Memorable writing that sparks imagination. Lean in. Hear the writer’s voice on the page. 270 Park Avenue By Karen Handyside Ely 270 Park Avenue Crowed sidewalk. Manhattan energy. Staccato heels slap on the pavement. Collars pulled high to shield numb earlobes. Heads down, eyes forward. We are missiles on a mission as the flinty sky threatens snow. A teeming line of ants, racing the storm. No exit ramps on Park, just a continuous flow of determined arrows. All in a hurry to beat the flurry. Up ahead, one woman stops Creating a ripple, a log jam, startling the herd. Bending down, she speaks in warm puffs to the man shivering on the curb. They exchange words, unheard but plainly visible. Breath bubbles above their heads. She hands him her coffee still steaming in her to-go cup, and walks on. Movement begins anew, ever forward, but smiles appear on New York…
Taste of Summer . . . Prompt #679
A Taste of Summer is inspired by Ellen Wu and her beautiful plating and photography. Ellen describes this gorgeous dish: Greek Yogurt with Summer Fruits Greek yogurt, figs, strawberries, cherries, gooseberries, raspberries, blueberries. Chopped pistachios, freeze-dried strawberries. Raspberry coulis (with Chambord) Peach coulis (with Peche liqueur) “The afternoon lighting turned its yellow color to green.” Prompt: Taste of Summer
World Building With Words
“Readers seek the experience of the world through character emotion and consciousness. What we remember about books and movies is the way they made us feel/experience, which is why we crave another story-hit, more, more, more.” — Juneta Key, “A Look at World Building and the Reader Experience” Juneta elaborates: Use your character’s emotional attachment to places, things, and feeling of home–longing, or contentment, or discontentment. World building is an external and internal journey with the character. World building includes using all the senses, to create atmosphere, texture, and attachment: Sight, Smell, Touch, Hearing, Taste, and 6th sense. STORY EXAMPLE: Anne of Green Gables L. M. Montgomery uses the senses and emotions in such a way that her world is a character in itself. Read the free Project Gutenberg ebook. Chapter 1: First paragraph: “MRS. Rachel Lynde lived just where the Avonlea main road dipped down into a little hollow, fringed with…
Don’t Rush It
“Don’t Rush It” by Morgan Baker I don’t like being late – to classes I teach or the airport to catch a plane. My anxiety meter goes haywire if I haven’t given myself the time to organize before school or when I’m packing to go away. Will I need my swimsuit? What about those shoes? I allow extra time wherever I go, which means I’m usually early. My stepfather once told my daughter as he drove her to a summer job, “You’re on time if you’re ten minutes early.” I’ve taken that to heart. When my daughter and I went to a wedding in Montana a few years ago, we were excited about the event, and to see the big sky landscape we had heard so much about. I didn’t want to feel rushed or anxious, so I allowed for plenty of extra time to get through security and find our gate….