Come Write In: Why Writers Matter to Libraries

Our Come Write In program provides libraries, bookstores, and other neighborhood hubs the resources to build and support a local writing community. We dig through the stacks to bring you our favorite stories: today, Bonnie Brzozowski at the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library shares why libraries should support writers as much as they do readers:

The Corvallis-Benton County Public Library in Corvallis, Oregon serves about 55,000 people. Every time the library had hosted a writing workshop in the past it was enormously popular, so when our NaNoWriMo Municipal Liaison (ML), Elizabeth Halvorsen, approached us about hosting NaNoWriMo events at the library in 2013 we had a feeling it would be a perfect fit.

I had never heard of NaNoWriMo, so I was nervous about attendance and how much work it would be to have weekly events at the library. Turns out, there was no need to worry! About 40 interested writers were in attendance to our first ever Plot Planning Party and the enthusiasm was palpable. Elizabeth assured me she would be there to support every writing session and her presentation at the Plot Planning Party was fantastic: full of hints, tips, and tools…

The writing sessions were similarly popular and all the library really had to do was provide a space and help put out the snacks and caffeinated beverages each week.

We were so pleased with how these events went the library decided to publish an anthology of excerpts of writing done during the month. This, too, was a success and we are now going into our third year of NaNoWriMo at the library (and, our third anthology will be published at the beginning of 2016!).

“We tell anyone who attends how imperative it is they take the 50,000-word challenge come November.”

We have offered a Plot Planning Party in October and weekly Come Write In sessions in November since 2013.

We offer all of the library’s events at the same time—Saturdays at 2:00 PM. The Come Write In sessions last all afternoon until about library closing time and folks can just walk in and out as they please.

There is free wi-fi, surge protectors for extra power adapters, and we bring down lots of library resources about writing, developing characters and dialogue, and more (mythology encyclopedias of all shapes and sizes seem to be especially popular consults at our NaNoWriMo events – lots of fantasy writers here in Corvallis!).

To get the creative juices flowing, we offer coffee, tea, snacks, candy, and much more to enjoy at every event. Last year and this year we also purchased some of the hip swag at the NaNoWriMo store to raffle off to lucky attendees of the library’s NaNoWriMo events. Our events are open to anyone 13 and older and we usually have at least 1-2 teens join the events, but most attendees are adults of varying ages.

As our NaNoWriMo events grow, we feel more and more comfortable devoting portions of our programming budget to their production. As mentioned above, we will publish a third anthology and, hopefully, we’ll publish even more writers than we ever have. If the book is popular again this year, we will have another book release party in the spring where we will also get a chance to tell anyone who attends how imperative it is they take the 50,000-word challenge come November 2016.

“[One participant] mentioned the library’s NaNoWriMo events helped give her the encouragement she needed.”

As I mentioned above, the success of the first year’s events prompted us to want to publish an anthology of writing done during NaNoWriMo by Corvallis area writers. We advertised this opportunity at the library’s NaNoWriMo events and via press release; submissions were due by December 15 and could not be any longer than 20 typed pages. The deadline gave NaNoWriMo writers time to pick an excerpt and get it polished enough for publication.

Nine people submitted excerpts in 2013 and nineteen people submitted in 2014. The uptick in participation in the second annual anthology prompted us to also host a book release party in the spring of 2015 when the book was published and printed. The publicity around the book release party helped bring 40 people to this event including two experienced editors who have enthusiastically volunteered to edit the third Corvallis NaNoWriMo annual anthology. 

The book release party also highlighted what a fun, supportive community Wrimos have built for themselves. Further, so much library love was shared with me that day that it remains one of the best days at the library ever! Having all of the published writers come together and simply enjoy themselves (we ordered pizza!) and talk with each other and other interested people was incredibly rewarding for me. We were having such a nice time a few of us stayed late chatting about favorite books and movies.

I didn’t realize the impact having an excerpt published would have on some of the writers. So many expressed so much gratitude toward being published and having their name in a library book anyone can check out. One woman even said that searching for her name on Amazon and seeing the book come up in the results brought her to tears!

Additionally, another woman we published in last year’s anthology used the momentum of having her excerpt published to polish the rest of her book and self-publish it. She emailed me just a few weeks ago to share the news and mentioned the library’s NaNoWriMo events helped give her the encouragement needed to get there. I cannot adequately express how much that email meant to me.

Though the library orchestrates the anthology, we could not put on these events without our fantastic ML, Elizabeth Halvorsen! She is there at every event supporting both NaNoWriMo and the library. Without her (or a similarly-minded volunteer), these events simply would not happen (we have a small staff!).

Here are the links to our two anthologies published via Lulu.com:

The 2013 Anthology
The 2014 Anthology
“Just as libraries support readers, we should also support writers.”

Overall, NaNoWriMo gives libraries a chance to nurture writers participating in an intellectual challenge, while encouraging others to get involved. Just as libraries support readers, we should also support writers and participating in NaNoWriMo is the perfect way to show off all of the awesome ways libraries can do that.

If you work at a library and want to get involved, I would say talk to your ML right away, if you have one! Ours has been instrumental in all of this and she really made it happen for us. 

If you don’t have an ML, consider looking for volunteer support and/or starting off small. Perhaps you could offer writing sessions only the first year and see how well attended they are. We do not have a staff member present for the entirety of each event; we only have one staff member who helps with set up and break down. A good volunteer that already participates in NaNoWriMo and/or is a writer him/herself could easily handle being present at each writing session, assisting with any set up or breakdown, and answering questions. This is exactly what I would do if we no longer had an ML for some reason.

If you don’t have a space you can dedicate, you can still promote NaNoWriMo and encourage participation via the library’s website and social media outlets. NaNoWriMo is a natural fit for libraries and the writing sessions are very “plug and play” with fairly minimal setup and maintenance. Libraries are already essentially providing space for people to read, write, and research, so it’s really just a matter of marketing while tying your space to that most fantastic of months, NaNoWriMo.

Bonnie Brzozowski is a Reference Librarian at the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library where she has worked for four years. She was a Reference Librarian at Austin Public Library in her hometown of Austin, Texas for four years, and she received her Master’s in Information and Library Science in 2007 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She loves comic books more than is reasonable and has been selecting graphic novels for libraries and leading a monthly Graphic Novel Book Club for seven years.