Jami Attenberg

When I start a book from scratch, not a single page is written. There are just some ideas spinning in my head, and some handwritten notes. Usually there is this kind of vague full feeling in my mind when I think about the characters, where they are, mixed with this blurry idea of their conflicts, both external and internal. I think: how on earth am I ing to do this again? from zero to hundreds of pages. But I learned to turn nerves into excitement most of the time. My approach is: "I get to write a novel" versus "I have to write a novel". And I think about what I want. What kind of stories do I want to tell, and what voices do I want to give life to in the world. You just have to for it. Don't put pressure on yourself. It will be painful no matter what, but you will feel relieved afterwards.

Draft Dust:

There may be those of you trying to finish long-term projects. Dust off the drafts that have been sitting in drawers or try to push forward to the end of something you've been toiling on for years. This book can feel heavy on your mind. There are all kinds of emotions already attached to this work from your personal history. You might think to yourself: why haven't I finished this already? Don't talk yourself out of it. Ask yourself instead: why do I want to finish it? Everything that happened before this moment is irrelevant. We tear off our clothes and race across the sand toward the icy cold water. We embrace the sting. To show ourselves we can. We start fresh in our work together. We just have to try.

Changing by Writing:

What do words do for you? Words do many different things for people. If your writing is for comfort, let it comfort you. If your writing is for process, let it be for process. If your writing will change your life or even the world, let that change happen. If your words are a war cry, let them be a wail. I know what words do for me: for an hour or two, when I write, this is a place I can to feel safe. It has always been this way, since I was a child. The safety of the sentence. The feeling I get when I press and play with words is the purest I will ever feel. The quiet space in my mind. I love when sentences collide, when I notice a word out of place and put it where it belongs. I can almost hear a click when I lock it in. I love to make a sentence stronger, more dramatic, or poignant, or sad, and I love when I make a sentence quiet enough that I can almost hear my own breath. More than anything, I love when a sentence makes me laugh. Now might be the time to ask yourself why you want to write it, and what kind of writer you want to be. Words light up on the page, showing me what to do, where they want to . They have always been my best friends. Respecting your creativity is respecting yourself.

The Giant Creativity Hive:

But what if you don't? Are you the type to live your life drowning in regret or the type who makes decisions and moves forward with them? Can you see the fact that you aren't doing these things as choices you make, to make room for the things you can and want to do? People who do all the things you want to do, mostly, no one does the work for them. Some certainly have wealth or connections, but most are worker bees like the rest of us, buzzing around the giant creativity hive. We cannot envy them for trying. We should look to them as role models instead. If you want something, do what you can to get it. If you decide not to follow a path, accept your choices. If your dream is to write for TV, say "I am writing a TV pilot," wake up an hour early, and do the work. It means you are actually doing enough to try to achieve that al. It's important to value your creative self. We need our relationships to be healthy, but to feel satisfied, we also need our relationship with our creative self to be healthy. The creative self seeks us out if we seek it. If we do our work and invest our time, it may help us one day. Respecting your creativity is respecting yourself.

Margin: The article is adapted from "1000 Words: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Creative, Focused, and Productive All Year Round," published by Simon & Schuster, 2024. Jami Attenberg has written for the New York Times, The New Yorker, and others. She is the author of seven novels including "The Middlesteins" and "All Grown Up." She lives in New Orleans, USA. The book includes advice from over fifty famous writers.