Library Crawl 2023

Welcome to the 2023 NaperWriMo Library Crawl, part of the local events supporting the USA::Illinois::Naperville region of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Be sure to consider attending some or all of our planned workshops in October (as always, all of our events are free!).

Writing a novel can be a daunting experience--it is a complex, huge task. But if you ease into it, you will find that it can be a manageable, rich experience that you can savor.

There are two ways to travel:

  • The ever popular Library Crawl highways
  • Themed back roads led by volunteer experts.

How do I prepare for NaNoWriMo?

There are preparatory workshops in October this year. See the calendar for details. If you've missed the preparatory workshops, see the notes and slides from all our past workshops.

What is the Library Crawl?

The brainchild of Sarah Kovac (librarian at Carol Stream and sarahk06 on NaNoWriMo), the Library Crawl is intended to add a bit of fun to NaNoWriMo and encourage participants to visit each of the participating libraries in November, attending their write-in events.

This year, NaNoWriMo's events will be a mixture of in-person events and online events, hosted on Zoom, MS Teams, and slack.

Covid-19 recommendations

NaNoWriMo is very conscious of the risks that come with Covid-19. Accordingly, people who attend in-person events are recommended to:

In addition:

  • Stay home with any symptoms, even if you are confident it’s not COVID—rapid tests are not infallible, and even non-COVID symptoms can cause a cascade of consequences for others who may have to miss work, keep children home, isolate from immunocompromised family members, etc. with any type of symptoms.
  • Notify us if you do test positive shortly after attending an event.

When are the write-ins? Who is hosting?

During the month of November, there are many write-ins.

Some write-ins are actively hosted by the MLs, other Wrimos, or library staff. There may be word wars, huzzah balls and other games (box of doom, for instance) and maybe even some small virtual prizes to encourage a lot of writing.

You can also find online write-ins every day in our online Discord chatroom.

What are the write-in logistics?

See naperwrimo.org/logistics for the latest logistics of our NaperWriMo events. We highly recommend for you to go to as many write-ins (and October preparatory workshops) as you can. The more write-ins you to go, the more likely you are to reach that 50K word goal. And for each library crawl write-in you go to, you collect a (virtual) themed library card. Trust us, you want those cards.

What do NaNo participants do?

Just attend the scheduled write-ins; you'll have an opportunity to sign-in at the write-in. The more write-ins you attend, the greater your chance of winning a prize at our Thank Goodness It's Over Party (TGIO).

What are the prizes and how many prizes can I win?

Prizes are being determined. There will be gift cards.

Do I have to be present to win?

Yes, to win a prize you must attend the virtual TGIO party.

Which libraries are participating?

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