1000 Words: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Creative, Focused, and Productive All Year Round

This encouraging handbook by novelist Attenberg (I Came All This Way to Meet You) offers brief essays aimed at motivating readers to get writing. Reflecting on her own process, Attenberg discusses her routine of writing 1,000 words per day and shares that she goes on walks or visits art museums when she’s feeling uninspired. Though Attenberg’s practices are held up as possible models for the writing life, the overall emphasis is on affirmations rather than concrete advice, as when she advises, “If you want something, do what it takes to get it,” and entreats readers to “value your creative self” and “believe your writing deserves to be treated with respect and care.” The highlights of the volume are letters originally written for Attenberg’s Craft Talk newsletter from such writers as Roxane Gay, Min Jin Lee, Emma Straub, and Bryan Washington, who expound on their craft; Carmen Maria Machado, for instance, describes her process of recording voice notes of narrative ideas and later expanding them into stories. Aspiring writers will appreciate Attenberg’s cheerleading, even if her program lacks in specifics. (Jan.)