The following article was written by Kristin Keck, a Teen Associate at the Manitowoc Public Library.
A word after a word after a word is power. – Margret Atwood
Once upon a time, there was an era of heroic deeds, a month of unbounded creativity and caffeine, a largess of ambitious ideas and all-nighters, known as National Novel Writing Month. Lo, plot bunnies and wild subplots roamed untethered through the fertile heartlands of writers large and small, bounding over the walls of Writer’s Block and overrunning the Hairy Doubts that grazed there. The duplicitous voices of inner critics were silent and the people rejoiced!
But, all was not well. National Novel Writing Month was laid low by the kind of financial and organizational problems that plague nonprofits, and the Voice of the Inner Critic once more was raised in the land. The Voice that says, “You don’t have time for this.” The Voice that says, “You don’t know what you’re doing, trying to write.” The Voice that whispers, “You’ll never be any good. Why bother to start?”
The people looked for a new age to dawn.
And just over the horizon, the month of September appeared, bringing glimmers of hope.
Sometimes you just have to get your Tolkien on, you know?
I’m Kristin Keck, the Teen Services Associate at Manitowoc Public Library, and I loved National Novel Writing Month. I’ve been participating for 15 of the organization’s 25 years. According to the website, before it got taken down, I’ve written over 790,000 words. The disappearance of the NaNoWriMo website and community has blown a hole in my year that I needed to do something about.
So, I asked about doing a small program here at Manitowoc Public Library, a writing challenge that would help to fill the void a bit. I proposed a calendar that would encourage people to write every day during the month of September.
There would be no word goals, unless someone wanted to set one for themselves. Fostering the habit of writing is the main goal. Just getting words on paper has a magic all its own. And words lead to more words and more words snowball into stories and poetry and screenplays and all kinds of literary art that expands minds and take people places they’ve never dreamed they could go.
That’s magic open to everyone.
And lo, the People In Charge said “Yes!”
In order to encourage people who are still listening to those inner critic voices, there will be a small prize for participation. Just bring in a completed calendar between September 30 and October 10 and receive a disposable fountain pen to continue putting words on the page.
If you want to push yourself, keep track of how many words you write and try for the Most Words Written Prize of a refillable fountain pen and a bottle of ink.
So join me this September. Pick up your calendar at Manitowoc Public Library between Monday, August 18, and Tuesday, September 2. (It didn’t occur to me that September 1 is a holiday and the library will be closed. Maybe I picked the wrong month. Probably not, though.)
Let’s put pens to paper, fingers to keyboards, and make some magic between the mind and the page!