Use Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library's Resources To Reach Your NaNoWriMo Goals

Press release from the Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library:

November 15, 2021

For those who don’t know what NaNoWriMo is… it stands for National Novel Writing Month, which takes place each November. It’s also the name of a non-profit group, NaNoWriMo, which started to support and encourage writers to reach their goals, not just in November but throughout the year. You can visit their website to find out more about the organization and the support they offer authors.

November’s big challenge is to hunker down, and write out 50,000 words of a new novel or work-in-progress. Sounds easy right? Especially if you live in a cold climate where curling up with your laptop by the fireplace all month is the perfect thing to do.

Universal Class

Some people can jump right in while others need a little inspiration. Maybe you want to take the month to learn more about the craft or want to explore the writing genres. EVPL is here to help you with that. Visit our Universal Class database, available through your Libby app or through our website.

Warning… if you’re still using an old OverDrive app, you won’t be able to get to the Universal Class database through it. You’ll need to download the Libby app or use the Libby website.

Once you’ve signed into Libby, you’ll need to borrow the Universal Class database. If your app automatically opens to your bookshelf, just tap the library building, scroll down to the Universal Class picture, and tap ‘GET.’

The borrow lasts for 30 days and doesn’t count against your total available loans. You can take as many classes as you want within the month, and you can immediately borrow Universal Class again at the end of the 30 days.

Once you’ve borrowed Universal Class, you’ll find the link to it on your bookshelf. Use this link the first time you access Universal Class. Once you’ve created your personal account on Universal Class, you’ll be able to access it directly from its website if you prefer, as long as you have access borrowed through us.

Writing Skills

Back to the writing fun: Now that you’re in the Universal Class database, you can explore all the classes. To find what they offer, click Browse Courses. From here, you can choose a subject or type in a search term.

To find all their writing classes, it’s easiest to scroll down to the Writing Skills box, and follow the link.

You can browse the full list, or narrow it by using one of the filter buttons. I would recommend browsing the list at some point because you might run across a class that would be helpful even though it’s not strictly creative writing.

For creative writing classes, you’ll want to use these filters.

The Creative Writing list includes everything Universal Class offers.

If you don’t want to sort through all the titles, you can use the Writing Creative Fiction filter, and just focus on the fiction classes.

Good luck completing NaNoWriMo this month! Don’t forget to check out all the other cool classes Universal Class has to offer when you’ve finished your Great American Novel.

This press release was produced by the Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library. The views expressed here are the author’s own.