2020 Writing Program

Originally published in the Ketchikan Daily News, February 2020; written by Michelle Lampton.

This year, the Ketchikan Public Library will be joined by the UAS Ketchikan Campus Library in cooperatively hosting the Library’s yearly writing program, which is open to adults and mature teens. This year we’ll have writing sessions, professional presenters, and the possibility of seeing your work printed in a group journal.

February 27 there will a casual drop-in writing session and discussion at the Public Library. Feel free to come by to write, chat, or get more information about the Spring program line-up.

March 18 there will be a sofa-and-espresso roundtable hosted by the UAS Ketchikan Campus Library. Enjoy a cozy square of couches and comfortable chairs, top notch coffee, and share (or just listen) for the purposes of group feedback on our ideas, projects, or general writing wins and woes. This is a perfect time to discuss your April’s “Camp Nano” writing project (discussed below), if you have one.

March 26 the UAS Ketchikan Campus Library will be hosting an Ask UAS presentation on Writers’ Block, led by Prof. Stephen Florian. While the presentation will focus on many types of writing and be geared for a variety of audiences rather than only writers of books, the discussion of strategies on writing productively should be helpful.

March 28 Matthew Bennett, Ph.D., professional developmental editor and board member on the North West Editors’ Guild, will present an exclusive live-video chat and Q&A about the role of developmental editors in helping writers improve their work, and give writing advice. This event will be held in the Public Library’s large meeting room.

April is “Camp Nano” month, the less-ambitious sibling to November’s National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). It’s a focused month of writing designed to motivate and foster community among aspiring writers. Unlike the November month (when we hold drop-in write sessions twice a week), for the more laid-back “Camp Nano,” we’ll hold one session a week, alternating between Thursdays and Saturdays. It’s an ideal time to write a short story, a small collection of poetry, or anything less daunting and more manageable than a novel.

In either April or early May, date to be determined, and hosted at the UAS Ketchikan Campus Library, Prof. Florian will be hosting a workshop on script analysis specifically for the Library’s writing group. Script writing is not the topic, as much as breaking down a script in order to develop strategies and recognize patterns to help aspiring writers grow as storytellers. Professor Florian brings to the table his knowledge as a professor of writing and communication, his time as a filmed actor, and his experience having taught at the New York Film Academy.

To round out the first half of our 2020 programming, on May 21 at the Public Library, the program will host a Potluck and Progress Check-In, where we set goals for projects over the summer, discuss workshops and programming for the later part of 2020, and fix the deadline for submission to the group’s journal.

If you’re a writer or interested in writing, stop by or call Michelle at the UAS Ketchikan Campus Library at 228-4567 for more information and to get on the email list.