Hello everyone! I'm up early in France and ready for Essay Camp!
I decided to do the five things prompt first thing in the morning today. I'm 10 months into a challenge of writing those every day for a year. While I have sadly not succeeded in doing them every single day, I *have* managed to keep up with the practice as a whole and now have over 63,000 words in the compiled draft.
When doing the exercise first thing in the morning, I usually write them on my laptop while still in bed. Today however, since I just set up a new desk, I decided to try writing them at the desk. I wanted to try something different in the spirit of Essay Camp. It felt a little unnatural to be honest, but that is one thing you can learn from trying out new writing practices—just how much you prefer what you already had in place! I was also not too thrilled with what I wrote, but, c'est la vie de l'écrivain! So I think I'll go back to doing the exercise in bed tomorrow. The desk is great for other work.
Glad to start! I was up at 5AM on the East Coast and started with a first post to launch my new Substack for this new month. It's a soft opening, I guess. Then I turned to these 5 Things, briefly. I have to pace myself because I also have NaNoWriMo fiction to produce later.... I think I'll reward myself at the end of the day with one of the essay readings. That's one of my favorite parts of this, the curation of essays as well as the prompts and community. Onward!
Love this five things prompt! Such a valuable trick I learned from reading you. Up in the middle of the night here on the East Coast but feeling newly inspired to fall back asleep so I can get started in the AM 💕
Thank you, Summer, for this initiative. There is something sweet about someone leading us, writers, on the lonely path of writing. Your essay camp feels just that: a gentle nudge, a daily permission to go ahead, write, child. Like opening the door to an enchanted garden and telling a kid go out, play there for a bit.
I'd like to share my second sentence from today's list of 5:
2. Impressionism -- the title of the thick Taschen album I keep as a laptop stand catches my eye with its white, cursive letters; an art collection that reminds me of an idyllic past, of how art makes life softer, of the importance of looking for the beauty in all things.
As (my kind of) luck would have it, I'm sitting at my laptop waiting for a new version of Scrivener to install ... or not. Yay, technical difficulties! Not to worry ... there's always my Notes app :-)
Thank you for sharing your beginning of Essay Camp, Summer. I know I have to start at my usual spot (desk and laptop in a pale pink corner of my room), but I'm hoping I can move around a bit, and maybe write outside at times.
I'm going to try the five things prompt because I need to have some 100 word stories ready to go. OK, I don't "need", but I like having some on hand, I'll use some for submitting to various lit magazines and they are a good challenge.
Hi everyone - I wrote my five things in a notebook but I've also already decided I'll move to my laptop tomorrow - I find handwriting is too 'other' an experience, I can't do it as fast as typing without it becoming completely illegible and it ends up affecting what I want to say - I get sloppier because the words can't be read, it barely matters what they say. I think I'll feel more myself at my laptop. It's a great prompt though, thanks Summer!
I did not know what to expect for this, but Day 1 feels so good. I was not expecting the extra bit of encouragement to read; thank you so much for the recommendations!
This morning I allowed myself to fully ease into the day, taking as much time as I needed. I walked our Husky, Winter. Made coffee. Watched millionaire dream home. Now that I am calm and at ease, I am sitting down to write. This seems to work best for me these days, instead of waking and starting as if it's a race, or treating it as something that has to be done.
I have been taking this approach for awhile now (not just with writing but also with my other creative endeavors -- illustration and photography)... it seems to flow so nicely. It feels so good. I have started to look forward to it again. Just thought I would share that approach with you all!
I am really looking forward to trying the five things prompt, and can see it as being an ongoing "recipe" for me. I used to do something similar with poems. I would write a number, continue with a poem and proceed until I couldn't write anymore.
Thank you for this. Again, I'm in rebel mode, doing my own thing because I've had a hard time buckling down to what I need to be working on. The discipline of Essay Camp will get me started, hopefully I'll be able to continue afterwards.
Excited to jump in later. There are a few objects and memories I want to explore for my book so I’ll work on each of those with a timer, most likely curled up on the sofa with a cuppa and a candle. This is what feels like “home” when I’m writing ✨
It is December 1st. I am a month behind. My sister passed away, we had the funeral, and then Thanksgiving. I am moving at my own pace and am good with that. I'm thankful these posts are here a month later seemingly just waiting...
Hello everyone. I am more of a free style writer I like to write out anything that's in my head first thing in the morning and then shift thru it thruout the week. Sometimes I write every week sometimes I just write 5 pages at once. And that's it. Today's I wrote on how I feel I have closed a chapter. And that it's okay to feel sad about it not ending the way you wanted it. But how exciting it feels to it closed (it was a toxic door and I'm feeling really happy and proud of myself for closing that damn door)
Hello everyone! I'm up early in France and ready for Essay Camp!
I decided to do the five things prompt first thing in the morning today. I'm 10 months into a challenge of writing those every day for a year. While I have sadly not succeeded in doing them every single day, I *have* managed to keep up with the practice as a whole and now have over 63,000 words in the compiled draft.
When doing the exercise first thing in the morning, I usually write them on my laptop while still in bed. Today however, since I just set up a new desk, I decided to try writing them at the desk. I wanted to try something different in the spirit of Essay Camp. It felt a little unnatural to be honest, but that is one thing you can learn from trying out new writing practices—just how much you prefer what you already had in place! I was also not too thrilled with what I wrote, but, c'est la vie de l'écrivain! So I think I'll go back to doing the exercise in bed tomorrow. The desk is great for other work.
Glad to start! I was up at 5AM on the East Coast and started with a first post to launch my new Substack for this new month. It's a soft opening, I guess. Then I turned to these 5 Things, briefly. I have to pace myself because I also have NaNoWriMo fiction to produce later.... I think I'll reward myself at the end of the day with one of the essay readings. That's one of my favorite parts of this, the curation of essays as well as the prompts and community. Onward!
Love this five things prompt! Such a valuable trick I learned from reading you. Up in the middle of the night here on the East Coast but feeling newly inspired to fall back asleep so I can get started in the AM 💕
Thank you, Summer, for this initiative. There is something sweet about someone leading us, writers, on the lonely path of writing. Your essay camp feels just that: a gentle nudge, a daily permission to go ahead, write, child. Like opening the door to an enchanted garden and telling a kid go out, play there for a bit.
I'd like to share my second sentence from today's list of 5:
2. Impressionism -- the title of the thick Taschen album I keep as a laptop stand catches my eye with its white, cursive letters; an art collection that reminds me of an idyllic past, of how art makes life softer, of the importance of looking for the beauty in all things.
As (my kind of) luck would have it, I'm sitting at my laptop waiting for a new version of Scrivener to install ... or not. Yay, technical difficulties! Not to worry ... there's always my Notes app :-)
Thank you for sharing your beginning of Essay Camp, Summer. I know I have to start at my usual spot (desk and laptop in a pale pink corner of my room), but I'm hoping I can move around a bit, and maybe write outside at times.
I'm going to try the five things prompt because I need to have some 100 word stories ready to go. OK, I don't "need", but I like having some on hand, I'll use some for submitting to various lit magazines and they are a good challenge.
Hi everyone - I wrote my five things in a notebook but I've also already decided I'll move to my laptop tomorrow - I find handwriting is too 'other' an experience, I can't do it as fast as typing without it becoming completely illegible and it ends up affecting what I want to say - I get sloppier because the words can't be read, it barely matters what they say. I think I'll feel more myself at my laptop. It's a great prompt though, thanks Summer!
Hello to everyone :)
I did not know what to expect for this, but Day 1 feels so good. I was not expecting the extra bit of encouragement to read; thank you so much for the recommendations!
This morning I allowed myself to fully ease into the day, taking as much time as I needed. I walked our Husky, Winter. Made coffee. Watched millionaire dream home. Now that I am calm and at ease, I am sitting down to write. This seems to work best for me these days, instead of waking and starting as if it's a race, or treating it as something that has to be done.
I have been taking this approach for awhile now (not just with writing but also with my other creative endeavors -- illustration and photography)... it seems to flow so nicely. It feels so good. I have started to look forward to it again. Just thought I would share that approach with you all!
I am really looking forward to trying the five things prompt, and can see it as being an ongoing "recipe" for me. I used to do something similar with poems. I would write a number, continue with a poem and proceed until I couldn't write anymore.
Thank you for this. Again, I'm in rebel mode, doing my own thing because I've had a hard time buckling down to what I need to be working on. The discipline of Essay Camp will get me started, hopefully I'll be able to continue afterwards.
Wow, a lot of early-morning writers in this group! It’s just 9am in NYC and I’m having coffee -- will see if I can get get my 5 Things started now...
Excited to jump in later. There are a few objects and memories I want to explore for my book so I’ll work on each of those with a timer, most likely curled up on the sofa with a cuppa and a candle. This is what feels like “home” when I’m writing ✨
Yess! Let’s begin!
It is December 1st. I am a month behind. My sister passed away, we had the funeral, and then Thanksgiving. I am moving at my own pace and am good with that. I'm thankful these posts are here a month later seemingly just waiting...
Love hearing your voice with the audio to read along as it feels like I'm doing this with a friend and not alone! Thank you.
Hello everyone. I am more of a free style writer I like to write out anything that's in my head first thing in the morning and then shift thru it thruout the week. Sometimes I write every week sometimes I just write 5 pages at once. And that's it. Today's I wrote on how I feel I have closed a chapter. And that it's okay to feel sad about it not ending the way you wanted it. But how exciting it feels to it closed (it was a toxic door and I'm feeling really happy and proud of myself for closing that damn door)
Looking forward to digging into this today! I love the permission to just write and not worry about whether it's "good"