Jumpstart Your Writing Dream with FREE National Novel Writing Month Activities for Teens & Adults at NSU’s Library

FT. LAUDERDALE-DAVIE, Fla. – Aspiring writers are invited to participate in two FREE National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) Kickoff Meetings for Teens and Adults, and a dream writing workshop at Nova Southeastern University’s (NSU) Alvin Sherman Library, Research and Information Technology Center.

Each November, the NaNoWriMo organization (www.nanowrimo.org) has a month-long challenge for budding writers to complete a 175 page (50,000 word) novel by midnight on November 30.

NaNoWriMo started the annual challenge to motivate people who have always wanted to write a novel but put it off. The goal is to promote creativity by focusing on writing quantity, not quality to help overcome the dreaded writer’s block. Related NSU events include:

• “One Day I’d Like to Write A Novel” Jumpstart Meeting for 18 and older
  Sunday, Oct. 31 from 2-4 p.m., in first floor lab 1054
  Participants will sign up, mingle, explore the NaNoWriMo forum, and talk about the prizes. Special guest Andrea Shaw, Ph.D., a fiction writing professor from the Master’s of Art in Writing program in NSU’s Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences, will also be sharing advice and writing tips to help participants reach their goals. The kickoff is FREE and open to the public, but space is limited so sign up early by visiting www.nova.edu/library/main.

• “Take the Teen Novel Writing Challenge” Kickoff Meeting for ages 13-18
  Friday, Nov. 5 at 4:30 p.m.
  Like to write poems, stories or songs? Want to meet other teens with similar interests? Then don’t miss being a part of the Teen Writing Challenge. The meeting is FREE and open to the public

Then, to take a break from novel writing, or to incorporate ideas from your dreams into your NaNoWriMo work, come back for a two-part dream writing workshop:

• Two-Part Dream Writing Workshop
  Part 1: Saturday, Nov. 13 from 3-4:30 p.m., in second floor Lab A
  Part 2: Saturday, Nov. 20 from 3-4:30 p.m., in second floor Lab A
  The use of dreams as inspiration is a long-practiced literary technique for  writing across all genres. This two-part workshop will examine the historic use of dreams in writing, and review techniques any writer can use to introduce dreams into creative material. Workshop leader Kate Ann Heidelbach is an Associate Lecturer at NSU with an MFA in poetry from the University of Miami. She has presented her work at venues in Chicago, New York, Miami, and Puerto Rico. The workshops are FREE and open to the public, but space is limited so sign up early by visiting www.nova.edu/library/main.

All programs will be held at the Alvin Sherman Library on NSU’s main campus, at 3301 College Ave. in Davie. For more information, please call 954-262-5477 or visit www.nova.edu/library/main.

About the Library: The Alvin Sherman Library is a joint-use facility, which is the result of an innovative agreement between NSU and the Broward County Board of County Commissioners. The five-story Library, Research, and Information Technology Center is Florida’s largest library building at 325,000 square feet. It serves the residents of and those who work in Broward County, as well as NSU students, faculty, and staff members. For more information visit www.nova.edu/library/main/. To sign up for a library card, visit www.nova.edu/library/card.

Media Contact:
Andra Liwag, NSU Office of Public Affairs
954-262-5309 (office), 954-873-8494 (cell), andrali@nova.edu