School's almost out! Summer School's in session!
a Summer Fridays flashback on writing multiple POVs plus a good #1000Words idea and an invitation to join me at a LOCAL AUTHOR EXTRAVAGANZA in Philly next week!
Hi friends! How is everyone doing out there? It has gotten HOT here in south Jersey, and my phone keeps popping up an extreme weather alert, which: I already knew??
There was no Summer School session this week (I was at my kid’s actual school for 5th grade promotion! 😢😭) but I wanted to pop in and share a couple things anyway.
a Summer Fridays flashback 😎
If you were missing Summer School this week, I bet you’d love this chat from last year’s Summer Fridays series—writer Domenica Ruta 🧿 on creating community on the page and IRL. We talked about how being in community requires being uncomfortable and probably spending time with people you didn’t choose, and why Domenica started getting to know her characters by having them watch The Bachelor together. Domenica’s All the Mothers is truly one of my favorite examples of a multiple POV novel done right—each voice is so distinct and compelling.
💡 one good idea 💡
What if we think of #1000 Words of Summer as a season?
I started out strong with #1000WordsofSummer this year but got a little off track after day 6 for various life, work, and other-projects reasons. I was starting to beat myself up a little about it, but you know what? I still have all those great letters to read. I’ve got #1000words on my calendar, but I can extend that bar and just keep going. The magic doesn’t run out just because you’ve fallen behind. I read Joseph Earl Thomas’s great letter today (those giant centipedes and botflies!) and wrote a bit. Tomorrow I’ll read the day 8 letter and write some more.
It’s like what my sister and I say when we’ve mailed a birthday present late—we’re celebrating a birthday season!
Have you been doing #1000Words? How is it going?
one fun thing: Local Author Extravaganza! W, 6/17
I live in New Jersey, but I can basically see the Philly skyline from my house, so I was thrilled to be invited to participate in this year’s Local Author Extravaganza hosted by the American Philosophical Society Press in Old City. I’ll be one of ten local authors (hi, Eshani Surya!), and we’ll be talking about our work speed-dating style, plus snacks and drinks, and books for sale from Head House Books. It’s this Wednesday, June 17th from 5:30 until 7pm, and you can get all the official info here. If you’re in the Philly/south Jersey area, I’d love for you to join us!
☀️🏫 join us for Summer School next week ☀️🏫
Our next session of Summer School will be Thursday, June 18 at noon eastern with Heather Bowlan, poet and creator of the excellent new newsletter PHL Poetry LFG!!!!, on finding and creating community in your writing life. She’s also the author of a great poetry collection, Highlights and Blackouts, that uses erasure and collage in really cool ways; I’d talked to her about that project in an interview here:
If you’re someone who wants more writer friends and/or wants to feel more connected to your local community, this conversation is for you.
(Despite what those thumbnails suggest, it’s not just me smiling into the camera like a goof! Both sessions have so much wisdom from our guests!)
You can get the full Summer School line-up and the archive of recordings here:
If this newsletter has helped you in your creative life, you can support me by becoming a paid subscriber or by ordering my new book, The Good Mother Myth.
Absolutely agree about #1000words season! I save the letters in my inbox for when I need a kick (speaking of, I loved Lily King’s letter, describing a writing day as a day she “kicked it”)