NaNoWriMoRama! - Meeting #1

NaNoWriMoRama!

November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), during which many intrepid novelists will write a complete novel within 30 days! Take up your Novel Writing Quest with Napa County's Poet Laureate as your guide in this 6-week workshop at the Napa Bookmine.

NaNoWriMoRama is to tackle what we've feared is insurmountable, and for the projects for which we've given ourselves far to many excuses. Perhaps writing a novel is on your bucket list, perhaps that decade-old idea for a crime thriller is finally ready to be put onto paper; perhaps you need a hobby: all serious contenders of any writing level will be welcomed into the party. The goal is to reach 50,000 words and a finished plot between 12:01AM November 1and 11:59PM November 30. We do not expect our novels will be perfect--revision is for December--we only aim to press on, tame ourselves, 

Tickets for this six-week workshop can be purchased in-store at our Pearl Street location. Your $50 ticket includes: a copy of No Plot, No Problem: A Low-Stress, High-Velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days, 6 group coaching sessions with Napa Poet Laureate Jeremy Benson, as well as a cheering section and homemade refreshments. 

Schedule of meetings:

Monday, October 30th 6-8PM:
We'll discuss NaNoWriMo creator Chris Baty's No Plot, No Problem (please read beforehand). We'll practice mental and physical stretches, map out daily and weekly goals, talk strategy, talk plot and planning, and get pumped up!

Mondays November 6th, 13th, 20th, and Thursday November 30th, 6-8PM:
We'll meet four times throughout the journey to cheer each other on, commiserate, eat creativity-enhancing snacks, drink word-inducing wine, and write like a Dickens (ahem). 

Monday December 4:
We'll clap, pat each other on the back, and take a deep sigh of relief! Then we'll workshop portions of our finished novels. We'll begin to pack for the journeys ahead: the forests of revision and the road to publication.

About Jeremy:
Jeremy Benson became Napa County's Poet Laureate in August 2017. He completed his novel, Where Will Wilma Go? in 28 days in February 2006, while studying for his B.A. in Creative Writing from Hope College in Holland, MI. The novel promptly disappeared. Jeremy's articles, reviews, short stories, and poems have been printed in many publications, including a regular blog for the Arts Council Napa Valley. He is an excellent baker, if he does write so himself.

Event address: 
964 Pearl Street
Napa, CA 94559