Connection, Creativity, and Community Writing Challenges
An interview with author Jami Attenberg
Dear Reader,
This week I’ve got something a little different! I’m excited to have the opportunity to share this short interview I did with Jami Attenberg, a bestselling author and creative habit guru (though I’m not sure she’d use that phrase). Jami has inspired so many writers (including me!) with 1000 Words of Summer, her annual two-week writing challenge that is also a gigantic community event of 45,000 people! She’s also published a wonderful book, 1000 Words: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Creative, Productive, and Focused All Year Round. I asked Jami about her creative habits, origin stories, and her new novel—and of course I added a few illustrations. :) I hope you enjoy!
-Kelcey
Interview with Jami Attenberg
1. As someone who thinks a lot about habits of art, I love the idea of short bursts of habits like “1000 Words of Summer.” What did you have to learn about yourself to create a successful writing habit?
First I had to decide I wanted to do it. Like if I wanted to be a published author then I had to sit down every day and write. I had to do the work. There are no shortcuts to creativity. You have to be willing to spend a lot of time alone--and hopefully enjoy it, too. I had always been a productive person and had written outside of my day job. I wondered if that was always what I was going to do with my life--working in the interactive space for various companies, and sneaking in my pet projects on the side. But what I liked much, much more than that was writing fiction. And no one was going to hand me that job, I had to fight for it myself. So if I wanted that to be my job I had to treat it that way. That was probably the biggest revelation. Figuring out what my ambitions were, and then treating those ambitions as if they were already real until they became that way.
2. I recently published a Substack post about origin stories, and I think of your essay, “Rejection Gave Me a Fresh Start,” as an origin story of sorts. What is another one of your origin stories?
I suppose there's an origin story to creating 1000 words that's worth mentioning because that project really has changed my life. Which was simply a friend of mine deciding we were going to write 1000 words a day together for two weeks just to get ourselves motivated. When I tweeted I was doing it, all these people said they wanted to do it, too. I set up a mailing list and a few hundred people signed up for it. And then I would send out letters to everyone every day for two weeks encouraging people to write, and then we all wrote in community with each other. It was so much fun. Now it's 7 years later, and I have 45,000 people signed up and there is a book version of the project. We all are still writing together annually and so many great things have come out for so many people. Like did you know Rachel Yoder was an original #1000wordsofsummer person, working on Nightbitch. And now it's a movie starring Amy Adams? I take zero credit obviously for Rachel's success but just to share a story.
In the end, though, the origin story is just about searching for community. Writer friends getting together and talking about their work. When we engage in these positive acts of connection and creativity, there are a million new stories that could come out of that.
3. You have a new novel coming out—your tenth book! A Reason to See You Again has been reviewed and featured in so many great places. What is one of your favorite things that someone has said so far about your new book?
Ahh I don't know. I'm in the stage where I'm just happy anyone is even reading it. I liked that Ann Napolitano read and blurbed it--I admire her so much. My mom is reading it and she said she wrote down a few lines she liked and felt thoughtful about, which made me happy. A friend just finished reading it and said it was "tender in such unexpected ways" and that it made her cry at the end. I liked that, too. I just want people to enjoy reading it. I'm done thinking about reviews and now it's just for the readers out there who just want a good book.
About Jami Attenberg
Jami Attenberg is the New York Times bestselling author of nine books, including The Middlesteins, All Grown Up and a memoir, I Came All This Way to Meet You: Writing Myself Home. She is also the creator of the annual online group writing accountability project #1000wordsofsummer, which inspired the recently published USA Today bestseller 1000 Words:A Writer’s Guide to Staying Creative, Focused, and Productive All Year Round. Her tenth book, publishing September 24, 2024, is A Reason to See You Again. She lives in New Orleans. You can find her online regularly at Craft Talk.
Here’s my post about getting ready for Jami’s 1000 Words of Summer challenge:
Thanks for reading The Habit of Art by Kelcey Ervick, a Substack Featured Publication (twice!). I love writing and drawing these posts and am grateful to everyone who follows along. Some of you are new here, so, welcome! I’m a writer and professor in Indiana. If you like this newsletter, you might like my graphic memoir, The Keeper, which was featured in the New York Times Book Review’s Holiday Gift Guide and happens to be 40% off at the place that rhymes with Zam-a-zon. If you’re interested in making comics and visual stories, check out my edited craft book, The Field Guide to Graphic Literature. I have other books too! Thanks for your support!
I adore the interview format in your style!!!
Can’t wait to join in with 1000 word folks!