Friday, October 31, 2014

November is Writing Month

If you're a writer, then you probably know that there's a writing group that meets at our library. The Write Now group meets on the first Wednesday evening of the month - which means they'll be meeting November 5 at 7 pm.

It's a diverse group, with some people focusing on fiction and others on memoir or other nonfiction. There's poetry, romance, history,and science (more about Write Now here).

As the days get shorter and darker, more writers come in out of the cold. Perhaps that's why November has the reputation as a perfect writing month. Or maybe it's the crazy can-write-anything-in-a-month attitude that sneaks in on these late fall nights. Whatever it is, every now and then a Write Now member will head off on a month-long writing challenge.

If you're looking for some inspiration - or maybe a challenge to get you scribbling - here are three to get you started:

NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). Started in the last year of the previous millennium (1999 to you millennials), the point of NaNoWriMo is to write a novel in one month. Novellas won't cut it; this is an all-out, aim for 50,000 words or bust. The ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is quantity. You can pretty it up the next 10 months. As one writer puts it, NaNoWriMo is about lowering your expectations, taking risks, and just slapping words down on the page as fast as you can. Learn more here.

If fiction's not your thing - say you're working on a memoir or some other nonfiction type of project - not to worry. There's a challenge for that too: NaNonFiWriMo. Like it's fiction big brother, National NonFiction Writing Month pushes you to slap down words on a page. But there's no word count minimum, so you can challenge yourself to writing 30 short essays or articles... or blog posts or a cook book. Here's more info.

People who write for kids have their own challenge: PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month). Instead of writing books, the challenge is to come up with 30 picture book ideas in 30 days. Some people jot down a title or a couple sentences, or sketch out their idea; others outline an entire book. It doesn't matter what you do as long as you do it. Find out more here.

Monday, October 20, 2014

Adventures at the Library

You can find plenty of adventures at the library - and some aren't even inside the covers of a book. Next time the youngsters complain they have nothing to do, tell them to lace up their boots and get ready for an adventure.

1. Look for the biggest book in the library. Then take your picture next to it. (If you don't have a camera, there are some at the library.)

2. Travel somewhere exotic. Spin the globe and choose a country. Then find some travel books to check out for an armchair adventure. Hop on the computer and look for photos of the country you've chosen. Make a map of your "travels" and draw some "photos" to show what you did or where you went.

3. Have everyone in your family find a poem and copy it down. Share them later, with cocoa and cookies.

4. Go to the cookbook section and find a new recipe. Then go to the store (and farmer's market), get the ingredients, and get cooking.

5. Bring some paper and colored pencils. Sit down with an easy I-Can-Draw book and draw for an hour.

6. Look through the books on plants and animals and learn to identify something new. Then go out and look for it.

7. Find a book of Baby names and make a list of funny name combinations. Then adopt a new name for the day.

8. Look for books by authors with the same last name as you have.

9. Check out a book by an author you have never read before.

10. Check out a backpack - or an Explore bag - and see what sort of adventure it leads you on.

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Thank You for Supporting the Book Sale

Thank you for supporting the fall book sale. Saturday ended with a bang. So many people came in for the last couple hours that we ran out of paper bags for the bag sale. Note to Self: bring my own bag next year. No, make that two. At $2/bag it's easy to fill more than one bag. Plus, getting a dozen hardback novels at 17-cents each is a real deal.

Some people filled up on classics, old favorites, and well-loved authors. Others opted for adventure, filling a bag with books by authors they've never read before.

The most overheard comment Saturday afternoon: "so many books; so little time."

If, for some sad reason, you discover that you didn't stock up on enough books, don't despair: the library will be open all winter! And remember - our next book sale is in May.

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Fall Book Sale Oct 9 - 11

The annual Fall Book Sale happens this coming weekend, during Fall Festival, and the shelves are overflowing with books. If you are looking to stock up on winter reading at basement-level prices, you won't want to miss the fall book sale. The Friends of Candor Free Library have been busy sorting and stacking and in a few days it will be your turn to fill your book bags.

You'll find books for kids, books on tape, books full of cowboy lore, how to fix a meal in 20 minutes, detective stories, romances, hardcover novels, paperback classics, poetry, picture books, DVDs, CDs, maps, travel guides, political commentary, books about crockpots and crackpots... and plenty more.

 Fall Book Sale hours are:

  • Thursday, October 9 - from 10 am - 8 pm
  • Friday, October 10 - from 10 am - 8 pm
  • Saturday, October 11 - from 10 am - 4 pm
There's a Bake Sale on Saturday starting at 10 am and ending when everything is gone. Come early because people line up for the pies...

And Saturday afternoon there's a Bag Sale from 3 - 4 pm: all you can put in a brown paper grocery bag for just a couple bucks ($2.00).