By Paula Treick DeBoard
If you strolled past Bookish on a Monday night in November, you may have noticed a dozen or so writers hunched over their keyboards, clattering away. This was for Novelish, a month-long novel-writing challenge sponsored by Bookish and led by local writer Shannan Sinclair. While there is a well-established national challenge that takes place each November, Shannan explained that Novelish was a “more personalized, supportive challenge tailored to our local writing community.” After signing up, writers set a monthly word count goal for themselves and were encouraged along the way by Shannan’s daily writing prompts, an active Discord chat, weekly Zooms and in-person Monday night writing sessions. As Shannan explains, Novelish wasn’t really about how many words a person can write in a month, but more about fostering connection and encouraging writers to support their goals.
Shannan, the author of two sci-fi novels (which coincidentally are available at Bookish), spent November writing more than 30,000 words of her next book and developed a consistent morning-writing habit. Another writer, Hilary McNeill, a biology teacher at Central Valley High School, has a longtime love of reading and “lots of stories I’d love to tell,” which drew her to sign up for Novelish. While she met her word goal, Hilary also appreciated the communal writing experience, saying, “The vibe was wonderful – listening to others typing as I did helped spur me on.”
The truth is that writing can be a lonely experience, and everything in the world pulls at our time and energy to keep us from it. Writing challenges can hold us accountable to our own work and to each other. Follow Bookish social media (@bookish_modesto) or check out our website (www.bookishmodesto.com/events<www.bookishmodesto.com/events>) for more upcoming writing events and to join our community of writers.
