I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone say, in earnest, “You know, I’m just having too much fun.” Or, “I wish I wasn’t so damned joyful.” Or, “If I have one more delightful moment, I GIVE UP.”
The point is, no one I know has dangerously high levels of actual joy. But I know that I’ve had dangerously low levels of it. This year more than ever.
When it comes to writing, I also never hear the writers I know and love saying, “Well, I’m strapping myself into the comfy chair today so I can finish this project, for fun.” Or, “I’m so sorry, I can’t come to your party. I have to meet my joy-count for my novel tonight.”
Instead, it’s all word counts and submission requirements, cover letters and target audiences. I get it, and those things have their place. But it’s not here.
What I’m about to share with you isn’t for the writer who has to meet a deadline; it’s for the word-loving human who needs a lifeline.
Allow me to introduce you to:
Write-amin J:
30 days of seriously joy-boosting writing prompts, for you and your words.
If you have dangerously low levels of delight, fear not.
Order your first dose of joy today.
When I started writing, I did it because I couldn’t imagine anything more delightful or satisfying than getting my feelings and desires down in my journal, or brainstorming words that rhymed with Christmas, love, or birthday in the kazillion poems I wrote for every special occasion. Writing was a wide open passageway to magic, to joy. As I grew up, studied writing then wrote professionally, I accumulated questions that felt less like airy openings, and more like doors slamming shut.
What can you do with an English Major?
Is this marketable?
Will anyone take me seriously?
How does it measure up?
But does it sound literary enough?
At low moments, I’ve spent more time worrying about the answers to those questions than actually doing what I love: writing. Writing is one of my favorite ways to express my unique self. And expressing my unique self is how I define joy. I know it’s not the usual definition, but to me, joy is simply releasing the call of my own wild voice – the relief and power and pure vitality in that. It’s howl, cry, call, and roar all wrapped into one.
And Write-amin J is here to help you access, build up and let loose your own joy roar, in one elemental way: writing.
No frills, no fluff. Only simple magic words for you to use to access delight when you write. These aren’t prompts to think about. When you get your first dose, I recommend opening the email, copying the prompt into your journal, and sitting down to write for five minutes, right away. That’s it. Take it in, and write it out.
Write-amin J is for you if…
you’ve been languishing in your own version of the pit of despair and could use a rescue from the creative equivalent of Inigo Montoya and Fezzik.
you know writing always makes you feel better and fills you up, but when you sit down to a blank page, you feel like you’ve got nothing.
you’ve lost that loving feeling. You have a little hitch in your giddy-up. You’re down to zilch in your zing department. You ain’t got that swing.
you need an energizing daily writing prompt to rev you up for your blog or short story or memoir in progress.
it sounds like fun. Too often we ignore our urges to enjoy life. Fun is an underrated but brilliant reason to do something.
A Note for the Joy-Deprived: As you use Write-amin J, you might find yourself writing about stuff you wouldn’t categorize as exactly “joyful.” That’s actually perfect. Because although joy can’t be forced, you can clear a path for it. Sometimes that means cleaning house – writing through anger, grief, sadness or confusion. Getting it out so there’s room to play. From personal experience, I can assure you that writing into the misery consistently leads me to relief, and gives me access to something so very powerful: my own joy roar.
Write-amin J is the simplest kind of medicine, which is often the most powerful: a daily dose of joy, delivered to your inbox, in the form of some introductory encouragement + a writing prompt, fresh and hot from the creative cauldron I tend, here at The Original Detective of Joy Headquarters, for you.
Once you purchase your Write-amin J, I’ll process your order, usually within three business days, and you’ll receive a welcome message. Then, on the day after you place your order, your first dose will arrive and keep coming every day for thirty days. Each day, you take it in and write it out.
