When I am not writing 1,000 words per day …

1,000 words a day

The writing resource that changed my life is the book and newsletter 1,000 words by Jami Attenberg.

THE NOVEL has always been my writing goal, but I struggled for decades with focus, plotting, action, and, well, finishing a draft. I picked at one idea for more than a decade and ultimately abandoned one novel, while also falling in love with flash fiction and creative nonfiction, as well as humor pieces, and local history nerd stuff.

I contain multitudes and I adore all of these projects! But … The Novel remained my white whale.

And then, in Summer 2022, I wrote along with the 1,000 words of summer newsletter. In five months, after writing 1,000 words a day (give or take) and then editing and rewriting some of the time, I had actually finished a novel draft!

It was, as Anne Lamott would say, a shitty first draft. I knew it would be. But after 11 years of not finishing a novel draft, I FINISHED SOMETHING LONG!!!

Four years and nine drafts later, I’ve gotten close to publication. I’ve made one short list and been a finalist in indie press contests, and seen a little action with agent queries. In the last month I had a consult with a trusted editor and I know what I have to do with Rewrite #10. This Sunday is my deadline to begin, while I stew over some ideas and furiously email myself brainstorms. The weekday morning drive to daycare does something to me and voilà! Pieces snap into place! As long as I can remember those revelations long enough to type them out.

Uhhhh OK so in the last four years I also had a baby and got sick and recovered slowly and returned to work. And, well, sunk all of my emotional highs and lows into a second novel draft, told in three parts. I began this other novel during pregnancy and wrote daily up until a month before my due date. Four months postpartum, I was writing it again. I told myself this was just for me. No one else had to see it or know about it.

Well, when I finally finished a draft (on June 14, 2026) that put all three pieces together, I realized I had 130,000 words. Is this a daily writing practice or a case of hypergraphia?

Perhaps something in-between, because immediately after I finished a shitty first draft, I tried to read from the beginning and immediately wanted to tear it apart and rewrite it. But also? I felt exhausted of the project and wanted a break. And then guilty for wanting a break.

I got to the finish line thinking If I die unexpectedly, someone might find a Google doc with all my weird notes and outline. And then I finished and thought If I die unexpectedly, someone might find this terribly written and cringey first draft.

My plan is not to die until I am 150 years old. And maybe take a little breather from this project.

At just the right time, this blog post arrived in my inbox like a gift from the gods of both writing and mental health.

I encourage you to read this plea to TAKE! A! BREAK! I personally needed to absorb this message about both celebrating the victory of finishing a draft and letting that draft sit and mellow for a bit.

I don’t know when I will return to Vamp Novel #2 to reread and revise. But I am currently not writing or revising anything.

On the day I made peace with taking a break from writing and editing, I walked and sunbathed at Laurel Hill Cemetery East.

I knew I had to return after a cemetery walk a little closer to home left me wanting more.

What do I even do when I’m not writing fiction every day?! Here are a few things:

Eavesdropping

Sipping my iced coffee and overhearing a table of college students spill the tea. Boy were they heartbroken that they weren’t in Italy like all their friends this summer. Slurp.

Enjoy Being the Host House

Grateful for long weekends over Memorial Day and in honor of Juneteenth.

What to do with a social toddler over a three-day weekend that rained for all three days?

HOST! EVERY! DAY!

We observed Father’s Day a little early; one sign that company’s coming is a full carafe of fresh hot coffee.

I was all too happy to fold in farmer’s market strawberries and blueberries to cobblers.

Attend to Correspondence

I love a deep, long, slow email exchange. And sending and receiving mail!

Enjoying my Own Backyard

No one enjoys going outside more than my kiddo, ESPECIALLY if a hose or blowing bubbles in involved.

Blooms are here!

My own backyard enjoyment can include paying a friend’s crew who always does a great job for some border/mulching help, and occasionally paying for lawn mowing though I am able to do this again this spring and summer. (Last year, post-op made it a no-go.)

Wandering Campus

It’s beautiful where I work.

Baking

Something that recharges my creative battery is getting deeply immersed in stories. Reading novels has set me alight in the last two months in a way that feels notable. But podcasts are also really doing it for me. Next post for those!

Since I am catching up: Some day trips undertaken while I was still deep in novel-writing. The beauty of 1,000 words a day is that life can unfold around it!

Spa Day

Spouse’s birthday observed at Korean spa with trips to Japanese grocery store and bookshop!