The writing challenge that changed everything.

#1000wordsofsummer is 1000% worth your time.

Hello, writer dear.

I like to think, given the opportunity,

Jami Attenberg

and I would be friends. The way she talks to writers—comforting and inspiring all at once—is so generous. We’re both happily unmarried and childfree. She’s a model of how I wish more all people treated teachers.

In the meantime, I’m an eager reader of Jami’s newsletter and books.

All of this to say: it really tickles me that, recently, we seem to be sharing a wavelength. Three days after I sent you our emotional support letter about commitment, I received Jami’s “Reasons to Commit to It.”

“You can find out a lot, showing up on the page every day for a while.”

The post is about my favorite writing challenge: her annual, two-week-long #1000wordsofsummer. It’s an invitation to spend time with your words (which, remember, deserve you to show up for them) for 14 days straight—in the company of other writers keeping the same promise to themselves.

Though I’ve joined Jami’s challenges for five years now, I’ve only “won” a few. Sometimes I missed days. Sometimes I didn’t hit the 1,000 word mark. But, as

Robin Lanehurst

recently noted, even when that happened, I wrote more “than I would have if I hadn’t made any commitment at all.”

It’s still a win. Because the real goal is just to keep going.

I’m writing a Secret Novel this year. My writing specialty has always been flash creative nonfiction, so wandering into the world of full-length fiction is quite an adjustment. But I’ve kept at it. Because it turns out writing fiction is dreamy. Because I want the idea I had one afternoon last fall to transform into a book that strangers will read, and be glad they did. Because Jami’s writing challenges have helped me start projects, like this one, and keep going. (In fact, #1000wordsofsummer inspired my new ohsoeffective and manageable writing practice—it’s how I wrote the first draft of my Secret Novel and how I’ll write the second draft, too. You’ll learn all about it in next week’s commitment digital care package!)

In this spirit of committing and showing up and doing our best, I hope you’ll join me (and the thouuuusands of others who participate) in #1000wordsofsummer 2025. Give it a chance. Show up consistently—however that looks for you—from May 31st through June 13th. If nothing else, you’ll move your project at least a little bit forward. But I bet you’ll get more out of it than just that. I always do.

Please let me know if you’re committing! I’d love to check in and cheer each other on. In the meantime, you are persistent and resolute and steady. Thank you for being a writer, and thank you for being a reader of Writer Dear.

~Kerry