Newsletters Dev

A few years ago, I participated in Jami Attenberg’s 1000 Words of Summer initiative, which ran for a couple weeks in June. The idea was that you would write 1000 words every day. If you signed up for Attenberg’s newsletter, she’d send you an encouraging email every morning. She asked some of her friends and colleagues to guest write some of the emails, including authors like Kiese Laymon, Lauren Groff, Carmen Maria Machado, and more. It quickly became one of my favorite summer writing initiatives.

Now, Attenberg has turned 1000 Words of Summer into a writing book that is intended to inspire you all year around. 1000 Words takes the best of Attenberg’s letters and expands on them, making an incredible book on writing. The book is structured around the seasons — a metaphor for the different stages of writing — splicing letters from different writers with Attenberg’s short chapters.

Sitting down to write this, I had a moment to think through why I loved this book so much. For me, it’s the combination of practical, detailed advice on ways that you can schedule your day or plan your writing that will give you the skills and motivation to succeed. For example, Alexander Chee explains how a new pen and pad of paper can be inspiring to him. He says, “And what I know by now: the legal pad and pen is like a change in the wind in my heart, a new idea raising its hand.” And Lauren Groff gives excellent advice on the importance of seeing your writing project to the end: “If you can attend to your beast with patience and faith, you will encounter the beautiful truth, which is that the mere fact of showing up will one day be good enough.”

If you or a friend is struggling with their writing project, I can’t recommend 1000 Words enough. It’s the kind of book that will be read, reread, and adored over and over again.

Our main human character is Janelle Baker, aka “Ellie,” who is Black, queer, and has anxiety. The story starts in New York City. An alien race, the Ilori, have taken over Earth. They tried to be peaceful, but the Earthlings fought back, and here we are at the beginning of the story, where humans are in Ilori-controlled confinement with little idea of what is going on. Ilori have learned that the arts, music, and literature inspire humans to rebel, so they destroyed every related item that they could. There were massive burnings of books, musical instruments, record albums, you name it. Many humans hid what they could, and it’s considered contraband. Our hero, Ellie, started an illegal underground library with about 60 books she was able to hide. She and her friend Alice have developed an intricate way of having people request books. Ellie then sneaks the books out from her storage in the basement into the desperate hands of the individuals. The stakes are incredibly high: if Ellie gets two infractions, she could be executed. Ellie’s parents are not doing well. Her father has been affected by the Ilori and is a mind-controlled member of the security team. Ellie’s mother has sunk deeply into paranoia and alcoholism.

In an alternating point of view, we meet Morris, an Ilori who is in charge of making a special chemical that will be given to all remaining humans. We learn that there are two tiers of Ilori: the true Ilori, who are incredibly wealthy and stay up in space, and the lab-made Ilori, like Morris, who are sent down to do all the dirty work on Earth and the other planets they colonize. Morris is different from both the true Ilori and the other lab-made Ilori in that he feels emotions. He has fallen in love with human art and music and literature. When he stumbles upon Ellie’s hidden library, he decides he must meet this beautiful human girl.

The book not only alternates between Ellie’s point of view and focusing on Morris but there is a third, seemingly unconnected focus, which is on a group called The Starry Eyed. The Starry Eyed was a popular music band on Earth. This book is a love letter to music and books, a sci-fi romance, and an exciting and anxiety-inducing race to save Earth from colonizing aliens.