Writing sprints next week

Hey y'all,

I'm taking myself on a working retreat next week to start on some larger projects, and take care of a bunch of stuff that's been on my "to write" list for ages. I'm also bringing along an instrument to try to fiddle on some songs that want to be started.

Fall has brought with it some drive that I've been missing. I know that a lot of what has felt like burnout is actually very real and necessary healing time from my "medically adventurous" couple of years, but it's been frustrating to not feel like I have the usual space and desire to write. I'm hoping to chase the glimmers of that next week and see if I can feel more like myself.

If you'd like to join me and do some writing yourself, I'm going to share the exercises/prompts that I use each day and you can work on them on your own time. I highly recommend setting a timer for 20 minutes or so - something short enough that feels doable and can also help you bypass the internal editor so that you write instead of staring at blank space trying to make it perfect. I'm a big fan of Anne Lamott's notion of "Shitty First Drafts" and suggest that approach...not to make it bad on purpose, but to understand that a first draft is just that, and not the end product. If it's bad, that's totally fine.

Since my goal is to write at least an hour each day, I thought I'd tell you about it so that I actually do it (you're all my virtual accountability buddies now). I'll be sharing some of what I work on with paid members so if you enjoy seeing weird first drafts and in-process stuff, you can join us here.

Other stuff going on:

I'm teaching Writing the Blues at Night School Bar in Durham, NC next month. Open to writers of all levels (seriously, you don't even have to have ever written a song). This will be a combo of learning about the genre's history and generative writing exercises. Plus I'm making my students a killer playlist. If you're local come hang with us Saturdays in November!

Alright, I'm off to attempt to squeeze way too much stuff into a too-small space like the chronic over-packer that I am. Hope you're finding tiny joyful things whenever you can.

Xo,

J.