Love to Write? Visit Your Local Library!

Our Come Write In program has partnered with bookstores and libraries around the world for years to help create local novel-writing havens. Today, NaNoWriMo writer Jennifer Sheffield shares a few reasons why you should check out your local library:

Books are open on hardwood desks with hunched shoulders of people scribbling notes and intently taking in every word. Librarians shush and politely give warning glares to patrons carrying on too loudly. The natural light is beaming through large windows. Children and adults are hiding between shelves searching for the perfect book or research material. And sitting somewhere at a table is a group or solo writer hoping to score the next 50,000 words of a novel.

They all know something valuable about productivity: It’s all about the atmosphere.

To book lovers and aspiring authors, it should be obvious how important libraries are to a community. Unfortunately, not all communities appreciate them. If you haven’t taken the time to step inside your neighborhood library, perhaps you’re overdue for a visit.

Libraries are full of needed inspiration, whether you’re working on fiction, nonfiction, or academic writing. And beyond the materials a library can offer, they also offer patrons a sanctuary.

You might have a new set of writing goals in 2019, whether you’re planning on participating in one of the Camp NaNoWriMo events or National Novel Writing Month in November. Getting a head start on your writing is the best way to continue the habits you built from November and keep them going through the new year (especially if you’re like me and took a long break in December).

Besides setting the right ambiance at home or heading to a café to write, sometimes we find the distractions of familiarity or bustle of other people can be too much when we’re already fighting procrastination. When that happens, it’s time to revisit your list of hot spots in town and consider trying something new! Let’s start with the library.

Libraries demand respect of all their patrons—from volume to cleanliness. This means if you need a little peace or a break from how loud the world can be, the library shuts it all out! Between the stacks and comforting walls of a library you can let your mind wander as your eyes scan the shelves and focus on the soft ASMR of light keyboard tapping and pages flipping. It’s the perfect remedy.  

Beyond environment, libraries are full of tools for physical and digital research. Feeling not-so-confident about how to write your next scene? Your novel’s genre has shelves full of authors who have felt the same as you. Check out how they handled their conflict and try something new in your own writing! Just imagine walking in one day and seeing your book on your local library’s shelves.

If you’re interested in getting more involved with your library, consider looking at what events they host, as well. Some libraries will hold write-ins with the community throughout November—mine does! Others are always open to working with you to get the events you and your peers want. Libraries thrive when their community takes advantage of what they offer. Don’t be afraid to ask a librarian for help.

Whether it’s the books, the sanctuary, or the events, you deserve to be part of your town’s library. And your library needs you.

Jennifer Sheffield is a full-time tech professional and freelance editor in the Seattle area. She was raised in the Atlanta area and received a BA in English from Valdosta State University with an emphasis in journalism. Jennifer is 28 years old, a Ravenclaw, and tea fanatic. Currently she’s hoping to complete the first drafts of a fiction novel and nonfiction memoir by the end of this year.  

Top photo by redcharlie on Unsplash.