The English Club is hosting its first write-in from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday in Room 3732 of Coleman Hall in celebration of National Novel Writing Month.

November is National Novel Writing Month, and it is often shortened and referred to as “NaNoWriMo.”

Angela Vietto, adviser for English Club and chair of the English department, said anybody who is interested in writing a novel is invited to attend.

“We have a lot of really dedicated writers in the English department,” she said, “but I know there are writers across campus who aren’t English majors, too, and I hope that they will find their way to us.”

According to nanowrimo.org, the nonprofit’s mission statement says they “believe in the transformational power of creativity (and) provide the structure, community and encouragement to help people find their voices, achieve creative goals and build new worlds—on and off the page.”

Elizabeth Hicks, secretary of English Club and freshman English major, proposed the idea for English Club to host its first write-in.

“I’ve done NaNoWriMo before, but I haven’t done a write-in because I’m the only person I know who (participates in National Novel Writing Month),” she said. “I figured (a write-in) would be a cool idea, and English Club would be the best place to do it.”

Hicks said she has been interested in National Novel Writing Month since she first learned about it when she was 15.

“I’ve always been into creative writing, and I was looking for things I could do to be better at that,” she said. “I thought NaNoWriMo would be a good challenge for myself.”

Vietto said while November is National Novel Writing Month, the month itself is for getting the first draft of a novel written.

“I think what most writing teachers would say is, ‘You can’t write a novel in a month,’ but even the event doesn’t claim that,” she said. “What they’re saying is you get your first draft written or, I think, you just make a lot of progress.”

Hicks said there are a lot of ways to go about starting a novel, including months of planning or just winging it.

“What really matters is that you start in the first place,” she said. “You just write, and you don’t edit until you’re done, and then you can go back and worry about how bad it is.”

Vietto said as a writer herself, she has found being in the same space as other writers is a good motivator, so the write-in is an opportunity for all writers to make progress and get to know some of the other writers on campus.

Hicks said she thinks the write-in is a great opportunity for students as well.

“I think it’ll be a good opportunity to know about what kind of writers (other people) are,” she said. “It’ll be interesting to see how what (others are) doing with (their) projects can affect our own projects.”

Hannah Shillo can be reached at 581-2812 or hlshillo@eiu.edu.