NaNo-Nights!
What’s New with Henlo:
Friday November 2nd, 2018
Our first NaNo Nights took place tonight with three lovely ladies who were ready to get started on their drafts! They came in with blank slates, but came out having done some good work towards their goals.
We chose to meet at a locally owned coffee and book shop called Cicada Books, located in the historic Central City district of Huntington, WV. We wanted this to be a comfortable and friendly atmosphere so that each writer can get the most out of his or her time with us. The atmosphere at Cicada Books is perfect for this, with the fragrant smell of coffee and old books always just on the edge of your senses. It’s a homey place with comfortable nooks set amongst the many book cases, and one of these nooks is where we will be making our home every Friday night for the rest of this month.
We started our evening with laughter and good tea, each of us taking some time to get to know one another as part of our Meet and Greet. We had goodie bags with candy, some little notebooks, and “chill pill” pens for our writers to utilize throughout the month whenever inspiration strikes. Once the girls had time to settle in and get their bearings, we started a 20 minute word sprint to get the creative juices flowing.
Never heard of a word sprint? It’s a stream-of-consciousness style writing exercise where the writer puts pen to page (or fingers to keyboard) and doesn’t stop until the time limit is reached. In this case, we’re utilizing the word sprint as a way to get the writers to work towards their word count goals for the day. It’s a great way to designate distraction free writing time, and the short burst offers a sense of accomplishment upon completion.
Overall, our first night was success! We had a blast working with these girls, and we’re really looking forward to continuing to work with them and anyone else who wants to join in! If you’ve decided to take the plunge into NaNoWriMo, join us at Cicada Books every Friday this month starting at 6:30pm!
Good luck and happy writing!
