Come Write In: How to Build a Writers’ Community

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, Jennifer Mattox at the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning shares why partnering with bookstores and libraries to promote writing matters:

The Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning is a community learning and literary arts center in Lexington, Kentucky, and NaNoWriMo fits perfectly into our mission: to empower people to explore and express their voices through imaginative learning and the literary arts.

As a Come Write In site, we encourage writers to meet in groups or individually to write their novels. Our Writers Reference Room has bookshelves full of valuable resources devoted to the craft of writing, and a library table and desks just perfect for the aspiring writer. Wrimos are welcome and encouraged  to write here anytime we are open Monday through Saturday, and they are free to bring food and drinks with them if they want to make a day of it…

The Carnegie Center also publicizes NaNoWriMo in our fall workshop brochure and on a flyer that lists local NaNo activities so that writers can know where to find support. Our building is the home site for the Lexington, KY NaNoWriMo group to meet for “NaNoPlano” prior to November. People who are new to National Novel Writing Month and people who have been through it before meet to discuss upcoming activities, get to know one another, and provide encouragement.

On Writing Workshops, Overnight Write-Ins, and Secret Authors

The Carnegie Center offers writing workshops and seminars each season, so it was easy to add one specifically for NaNoWriMo participants called “How to Write a Novel in 30 Days.” As a multi-year NaNoWriMo winner, I lead this seminar, and include strategies for meeting word count, writing a quick first draft, and keeping track of your storyline and characters. I also lead this seminar in a local bookstore and, at times, in Central Kentucky libraries—including 2013, when Kentucky public libraries chose NaNo-novel The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern as their One Book, One Bluegrass selection.

For the past two years, we partnered with Joseph-Beth Booksellers to host an Overnight Write-In event in their store. Wrimos arrived an hour before the store closed, and after a welcoming session and some appetizers, got down to business. Then when the store closed, they stayed, finding comfy spots to write in the Bistro near the fireplace, on a couch in the store, or in a private corner tucked behind a row of bookshelves. 

The local MLs got on the store’s intercom system to start and stop writing sprints periodically through the night, and there was an optional group session where Wrimos could come together and discuss what was working and what wasn’t with their NaNo-novel. Hot coffee was available all night, and there were breaks for sandwiches and breakfast foods to keep people going into the morning hours.

“They loved discovering that a published NaNoWriMo author was there among them, writing through the night.”

Last year at the Overnight Write-In, I served as host and during the welcoming announcements revealed that one of the Wrimos writing that night was a secret guest author whose NaNoWriMo book was published by Simon & Schuster and led to a 20+ book deal. Everyone had to wait until the breakfast on the event platform the next morning, when I invited the secret author to join me up front for the interview.

I introduced middle-grade author Jessica Burkhart and asked what led to the publication of her Canterwood Crest series. Burkhart told a silent audience how surgery for scoliosis ended her horse show career, which was devastating until she decided to write a novel featuring characters like her. She wrote her first novel during NaNoWriMo and blogged about the experience. Then by chance, a literary agent came across the blog during a random Google search and invited her to submit the novel once revisions were complete. Burkhart soon landed an agent and the 20+ book deal and continues to participate in NaNoWriMo.

The audience was moved by her inspiring story. Several Wrimos asked her questions, and some commented afterward that they loved discovering that a published NaNoWriMo author was there among them, writing through the night. It was the perfect last push leading into the final days of November.

Why Partnering with Community Centers, Libraries, or Bookstores Matters

If you are a Come Write In location for NaNoWriMo and don’t offer a program or event geared toward NaNoWriMo or people who want to write a book, find someone who does! Partner with a bookstore, an author, a writing instructor, or other literary figure and see how together, you can create an opportunity for Wrimos to become involved.  

We came up with the Overnight Write-In idea by thinking to ourselves, ‘How cool would it be to hang out in a bookstore and write after all the customers are gone?’   
We offer the “How to Write a Novel in 30 Days” seminar in a bookstore and public libraries because they need programs like ours that don’t need to be done by their already overwhelmed staff. 

A lot of times, published authors and university writing instructors teach workshops and seminars for the Carnegie Center—these authors are well-qualified to lead writing workshops at your site, too. 

In every situation, we networked within the literary community and knew if we were excited about it, Wrimos would be, too. 

We also found funding through a grant, a sponsorship, or by charging a minimal fee to cover costs. As a result of the support we provide, our partners spread the word among their customers and friends and broadened our reach. We’ve found that partnerships are a win-win for all involved.

Jennifer Hester Mattox is the Development Director & Kentucky Great Writers Series Coordinator at the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning in Lexington, KY. A five-time NaNoWriMo winner, she teaches a “How to Write a Novel in 30 Days” seminar in Central Kentucky libraries, a bookstore, and the Carnegie Center. Last November, she contributed tip #1 to the Writer’s Digest article, ”30 Tips for Writing a Book in 30 Days“, which is circulating again on WD e-letters and blogs this fall.