? !! NaNoWriMo !! ?

Have you ever thought “one day I’d like to write a novel.” Ashe County Library announces the end of the one day novelist by celebrating National Novel Writing Month this November. NaNoWriMo should really be referred to as an international, rather than national event. The concept originated in 1999 and began in the San Francisco Bay area with 21 participants. Since then the challenge has spread world-wide and has grown to over 200,000 participants. When NaNoWriMo launched its new website this year there were over 39,000,000 page visits in the first month! For all those interested in joining in this noveling mission visit the library and kick-start your challenge on October 29 at 1:00 p.m. The goal is to write 50,000 words, roughly 1,667 words (around 3 ½ to 4 pages) a day. Notable novels of 50,000 words include TheHitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, BraveNew World, and TheGreat Gatsby. Debut author Erin Morgenstern published The Night Circus, a recent national bestseller novel, as a result of her NaNoWriMo experience!

Those who have reached this seemingly difficult literary goal universally offer this advice, “Forget about perfection.” You have to just get your story out … beginning, middle, and end. You can't agonize over spelling, grammar, sentence structure, or even what name to give a character. The final product of your thirty day writing marathon can basically be referred to as your “zero draft.” You are pushing to meet a deadline and once you do there will be plenty of time to revise, edit, and polish those first and final drafts.

Come in and pick up a guide for planning your novel and check out other books with writing tips and strategies. Join our writer's support group to receive encouragement and motivation. Plans are to meet for weekly write-in sessions, where we'll share ideas and coffee. 

 

Dates to remember in November:

As we plan for the holidays, join us in decorating a “Poet -Tree” to be on display at the Art Council. An ornamentality workshop will be held at the library on Thursday November 1 from 3:30 -5:00 pm with supplies available for transforming poetry it into ornaments. Ornaments decorated with poems of a seasonal theme will be collected between now and November 10.

November 3 is National Gaming Day. Visit the library for Checkers, Chess, Parcheesi, Jenga, Labrynith, Connect 4, X-box and other games between 1:00 and 4:00 p.m.

Clint Johnson will be sharing his talents with teens at the November 7^th meeting of Inditers, the young writers group at 4:00 p.m. Clint has a journalism degree from the University of Florida and has been a writer and editor since 1975. He has been published in over sixty magazines and written dozens of non-fiction books. His program is: What Young Writers Should do Right Now to Make a Living as a Writer.

Learn to crochet at a “Get Crafty” class on November 10 at 10:00 a.m. This month’s project will be a Reindeer Bottle Top to cap off your bottle of Christmas cheer (can also be used as a cute tree ornament). All ages and experience levels are welcome. Call 846-2041 for more information.

Also on November 10, local celebrity Scot Pope will be entertaining us with his musical talents at 2:00 p.m.

November 17 the library is celebrating with an all-day open house customer appreciation event. Take part in our map-based scavenger hunt while enjoying cider & cookies! A family story time is planned in the children’s department at 10:00 a.m. with a special appearance by fiddlin’ “Cowboy Ray” and a reading of “Turkey in the Straw.”

Adult programming offers “Pace Yourself” Computer Classes on Tuesday mornings at 11:00.

Children’s department will be visiting Lansing for “Story Time at Town Hall” every Friday, except for November 23 at 10:30 a.m. Story-time in the library will take place on Tuesdays at 10:30 and Tot-time is on Wednesdays and Thursdays also at 10:30 a.m. Afternoon Adventures for ages 7-9 are planned for the second Wednesday of each month at 2:00 p.m.