12,488 words

A #1000wordsofsummer recap.

We did it. Congratulations to everyone who stuck out the writing wormhole that is the two weeks of #1000wordsofsummer and came through to the other side.

In 12 days, I wrote 12,488 words, a flood of material that I’m eager to build upon. Some work stressors got in the way for my last three days, so I petered out on Day 12 after 319 words in the morning. But I’m still so stinking proud of myself for making it to 10,000 words and beyond. The word count matters but it also doesn’t; it’s about the challenge, building consistency, and working through ideas through words, rather than in your head. I feel that now. I get it.

An evening walk through the neighborhood in Baltimore during Pride!

Here on the East Coast, we’re about to enter a heat dome for the foreseeable future where daytime highs will consistently be over 90 degrees. You know how people stock up on milk and bread and sidewalk salt before a snowstorm? I feel like I’m making the same preparations for the heat, the first big heat of the summer. We cleaned out our grill so we can cook dinner easily and fast under the shade of our honey locust tree instead of heating up the kitchen. We replaced the AC unit in my office. I made homemade popsicles (I swear by this popsicle cookbook) and cut up the first watermelon of the season. The house is clean and the fridge is cleared out. I’m watering the porch flowers and gardens each morning before the sun scorches them by 10am. And we’ve also been going for more walks, especially in the early mornings and evenings when the air is cool and the glow bugs are lighting up the gardens like sparklers. Maybe I’ll make some linen pants?

What I’m writing

More scenes from my book, after a helpful pep-talk from my writing accountability buddies. Some new scenes from a new world I dreamt up, maybe the basis of a short story.

What I’m reading

Adulthood Rites by Octavia Butler, Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar, and The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers. All wonderful!

I didn’t plan on reading a Black author during the week of Juneteenth or queer writers who write LGBTQIA+ characters during the month of Pride, because I look for racial and gender diversity from all my books, all the time. But it definitely hit me this week, when Baltimore celebrates Pride, how grateful I am to have access to the worlds these visionary writers have built with gender and identity expansive characters and experiences. If you haven’t read a book with a character (ideally, a main character) who is gay, lesbian, trans, Black, indigenous, Asian-American, Jewish, Persian, or ALL THE ABOVE this year, this is your sign! Here are some more ideas. Go pick up a book and start reading.

What I read

Finished Dawn by Octavia Butler. Felt like reading the adult version of the paperbacks I’d pick up from my grandma’s local library in mid-summer, in the best possible way. It is also remarkably timeless; even though it was written in 1987, it easily could have been written now.

A helpful thing

Big recommend for the Flow State substack and station, while writing, working, anything. I’m a big fan of ambient and electronic music and I’m discovering so many new artists from listening.