Concentration. Creative flow. These are qualities you can find at the library- along with the writers who seek them. Seating at our library is Choose-Your-Own-Adventure. Depending on where you choose to sit, you’ll encounter silence, the sounds of community, or something in between. You can sit where the level of ambient noise best supports your creative thinking… A unique kind of hush especially reigns on the 2nd floor, where the Research Librarian waits for your questions. The Reading Room in the Stone building is a great Muse to many a writer, too. Sitting on L1 keeps your favorite novels within easy reach. And now, for the month of November, we are creating a new space for writers in the library. We are hosting evening Write-ins in the Community Room throughout November in celebration of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). The first was yesterday, and yes, that was me in the back row, enjoying the opportunity for purposeful camaraderie, rubbing shoulders with all the Cantabridgian writers as we laughed, sparked each other, and typed with fury.
Here is a list of great writing books, some new and some classic, to keep you inspired as the month rolls on (and beyond!)
The true secret of writing: connecting life with language / Natalie Goldberg
How the light gets in: writing as a spiritual practice / Pat Schneider
The artist’s way: a spiritual path to higher creativity / Julia Cameron
The writing life / Annie Dillard
Big Sur and the oranges of Hieronymus Bosch/ Henry Miller
The creative habit : learn it and use it for life : a practical guide / Twyla Tharp
Writers at work : the Paris review interviews
How to Read a Novelist / John Freeman
Skye Lavin
Manager of Adult Services
Cambridge Public Library
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