Welcome to book inc, Project Write Now's community dedicated to novel and memoir writers. Each month, we provide program updates as well as insights and advice on writing, revising, and publishing a book.
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HURRY! ONLY A FEW SPOTS REMAIN IN OUR 2023 BOOK INC PROGRAMS
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POST-PARTUM MEMOIR WRITING BLUES
by Shanda McManus and Jennifer Gaites
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As Peer Artist Co-leaders, Jen and I have been proud of our Memoir Incubator group’s accomplishments. The 10 of us have spent almost a year together—conceiving our stories, drafting, and now sharing our work. We’ve encouraged and supported each other as we’ve moved through the many many challenges that come with bringing a book into the world. Read more.
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CAN ANYONE WRITE A NOVEL?
by J. Greg Phelan
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Can anyone write a novel? “If they put their mind to it,” Haruki Murakami claims, in his wonderful new collection of essays, Novelist as Vocation. Unlike other arts that require intense training, foundational skills, tools, and materials, all anyone needs Murakami argues is:
... the basic ability to write (most people have that), a ballpoint pen, a pad of paper, and the capacity to make up a story to turn out something resembling a novel—whether they have received any specialized training is quite beside the point. Read more.
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WHAT TO DO IN MEMOIR WHEN TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN FICTION
by Elizabeth Jannuzzi
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One time in a workshop while giving me feedback on one of my personal essays, my classmate said she didn’t believe me when I said my mother never came into my teenage bedroom. I found myself in a weird position defending my actual experience. Read more.
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We can’t believe that our Book Revision Lab is nearing a close. Our writers have been diligently working on their manuscripts, finding new ways into revision, and always improving upon what they have. This month, we looked at our last pages … then flipped back and re-read our openings. We considered how these two scenes capture our protagonist’s transformations and narrative arcs. We also discussed ways that our opening and closing images mirror each other. It’s fun to take deep dives into specific areas of our manuscripts … not only does the prospect of revising a full-length work become more manageable, but we also get ideas from one another and cheer each other on.
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MEMOIR AND NOVEL INCUBATOR |
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In the Incubators, we are finishing up our second reading round. Slot #3 writers have printed and mailed off their manuscripts, and their readers keep them abreast of their reading progress via Slack. On January 5, we will have our second-to-last Zoom class and our last feedback session. As the New Year approaches, we are reminiscing about where we were in our writing progress at this time last year. Some of us had notes written down, some had an outline, or maybe even a few scenes written. But we didn’t have a full-length manuscript of 50,000 words or more. And now we do! Amazing! The Incubators conclude mid-January and many of us writers have enrolled in the Book Revision Lab as a next step to moving our books forward towards publication.
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Are you interested in writing a book, but not ready to embark on a long-term project? PWN's Writers Institute offers several classes and workshops to help you along.
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Our Winter 2023 session begins January 17. Register now to secure your spot!
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Get in the fiction writing habit with Fiction 101: From Discussion to Draft. This six-week course runs on Fridays from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. ET, starting on January 20.
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Our Memoir class invites you into the storytelling mindset with guided prompts and introduces the fundamentals of memoir writing—characterization, voice, setting, and emotional resonance. Memoir runs for six weeks on Sundays from 9 to 11 a.m. ET, starting January 22.
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Explore life's smaller happenings in our six-week Extraordinary Ordinary Stories class. This six-week class runs on Thursdays from 9 to 11 a.m. ET, starting on January 19.
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About book inc
book inc is part of Project Write Now, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit transforming individuals, organizations, and communities through writing.
Through our community outreach programs, we help youth and adults develop the writing and communication skills needed to build resilience, pursue personal growth, and achieve academic or professional success. We partner with local schools and mission-based organizations* to offer writing workshops and writing services.
*Qualifying school districts and organizations can receive these services for free.
Federal Tax ID: 46-3534268
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