Sewickley Library taking part in national month for novelists

Emily Fear likes a good challenge.

So when National Novel Writing Month — known as NaNoWriMo — comes around each November, the Sewickley Public Library teen librarian not only challenges her young patrons, but she challenges herself to take part.

“It's a great way for us to test our self-control and sense of structure,” Fear said. “It's a great excuse to do something without fear of quality.”

NaNoWriMo encourages participants to get into the habit of writing, Fear said.

“Give yourself that hour or that hour-and-a-half to sit down and write. Then you get into the habit of thinking like a writer.”

The Sewickley Public Library each Tuesday this month will offer write-in sessions for children in grades six through 12.

“The write-ins are an opportunity for everyone to check in with each other, discuss obstacles, help brainstorm, help each other with feedback,” Fear said.

For the library's part in this worldwide month, participants are encouraged to reach a word count goal of 30,000, Fear said. The weekly meetups will offer tips and presentations from authors.

“Usually by three or four days in, a lot of the students who come in are ready to write,” Fear said. “What we really strive for in these write-ins is to continue writing. It's easy enough to come up with an idea, but it's hard to keep going with it. Our sessions have to be really instrumental to help them continue their writing.”

More than 1,200 people registered in the Pittsburgh area for NaNoWriMo last November, regional municipal liaison Mike Crane said.

Crane of Monroeville is one of three regional volunteers who help to organize local write-ins and events for those interested in writing. He expects more people to participate this year.

“NaNoWriMo is really about unlocking people's creative potential,” he said.

“Most people at some point have said, ‘I want to write a novel,' and this provides a structure to do so. But it's also a way for people to realize that if they can write a novel in 30 days, there isn't anything they can't do.”

The Young Writers Program, which Sewickley Public Library participates in, is part of the NaNoWriMo national organization and helps to encourage youth to write, Crane and Fear said.

At write-ins held around the region, middle school and high school students and their parents have participated, Crane said.

The group offers more than a chance to become America's next great author, Crane said.

“The national organization offers free classroom supplies and curriculum to teachers who want to incorporate creative writing into their classroom, no matter the grade level,” he said.

“Any money donated to NaNoWriMo and funds from the store sales goes to fund those free programs for youth and educators. In years past, they have used money to build libraries around the world.”

Giving children and adults free reign for creativity is important, Fear said.

Young writers have issues of writing for fun because “they spend their days writing and reading and doing things for classwork,” Fear said.

“You're expected to read or write on a specific topic. So even students who do not have that much interest in writing creatively do benefit from trying the NaNoWriMo experiment because it allows them to write about anything they want, and it gives them the freedom to express themselves.”

The same idea holds true for adults who participate, Crane said.

“We always tell people this event is about quantity over quality,” Crane said, adding that the adult word count goal is 50,000. “You have to have something down on the page to go back and edit into the next great American novel.”

Bobby Cherry is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at 412-324-1408 or rcherry@tribweb.com.