Essay Camp?

Let's try this again

Artwork by Amy Friend, one of my favorite artists.

Dear Friends,

I’ve been trying to figure out when to hold our next session of Essay Camp. I was simply too ill in August and September to do it when I’d originally planned, and with the work load of finishing this biography (I know, it seems endless to me too) I haven’t been sure of when I can put it together.

However, I’m wondering if people would still welcome a slightly toned-down version, where there may be less new content to go along with the daily exercises, but I still create the container based on previous sessions, send encouragement, and hold space?

What would you say to an Essay Camp session from Wednesday, November 1st, to Sunday, November 5th?

I say, let’s do it.

This way, some of us nonfiction writers can try out a different approach to the infamous National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo. Instead of a specific word-count at the end of those 30 days of November, where the goal is to get down the first draft of a novel in 50K words, we would instead commit to writing nonfiction for five days in a row, length unspecified. After that, those of us who feel so inclined can continue on with a daily writing practice for the rest of the thirty days, using the Substack Chat feature to check in along the way.

(As always, those of you who do not want to receive the Essay Camp emails can always go to their subscription management page and uncheck the box marked “Essay Camp.”)

What do you think? Can you join in this time? Let me know in the comments. For now I’ll start planning the session to begin November 1st, with the option to continue on for 30 days.

Yours,

Summer xo

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