What is 500 Words of Summer?

BY LIZ MATTHEWS

Inspired by National Novel Writing month a.k.a. NaNoWriMo (which challenges writers to write 50,000 words during the month of November), and Jami Attenberg’s 1,000 words of summer (1,000 words a day for two straight weeks), our challenge is to write 500 words every weekday in July. 

Why?

We all need some accountability during this hectic time of year when schedules are in flux, and our regular routines get derailed. The hardest part is getting started, which is the point of these prompts. As Hemingway said, “As long as you can start, you are all right. The juice will come.”

How does it work?:

Each morning you will be emailed a unique writing prompt. You may write on your own whenever you can fit it in that day. Aim for at least 500 words, but who knows, maybe you’ll keep going? Don’t stop if you’re on a roll. Momentum is everything in writing. The prompts will vary in length, genre, and scope. I’ll share links to poems, stories, images, songs, film clips, and more! If you’re wondering what a “prompt” is, I’ve included a few samples below. You will always just write whatever is in your heart. There is no wrong way to do this. Just write.

*An optional bonus is to stay connected with the other writers in the challenge through our Slack channel. We’ll use this thread to discuss our experience with the prompts, share articles, podcast episodes, quotes, or anything writing-related. Let us know how it’s going. What’s hard? What’s surprising? Last summer some writers even shared short excerpts from their prompts here. 

A few sample prompts from last summer:

• Write the hardest decision you’ve had to make. Write it from another person’s perspective.
• Write about how music factors into you or your protagonist’s lives – especially in an unexplainable way.
• Read Kathy Fish’s story, “That’s Him! That’s the Guy” and respond to one of the following prompts:
  • Write about someone you or a character has lost who appears in your/their life unexpectedly.
  • Try writing about an event from your past as if you were a character – what retrospective knowledge will you bring to this scene? Don’t be afraid to zoom ahead in time and show us what will happen to this character.

This is not a class; it’s a way for us to stay committed to our writing practice collectively. This perk is only for our registered summer writers, which means you need to be taking one of our multi-week workshops with us to receive the emails. We hope you’ll join us!