November’s gearing up to be a busy month for Juniper Bends! On top of preparing for finals and the beginning of the holiday season, your humble Juniper Bends Author Collective members are putting together several awesome events throughout the month. Here’s the November round-up:
Friday Nov. 9th: The Juniper Bends Reading Series’ Third Anniversary
As you all know from Jesse’s write up, the Juniper Bends Quarterly Reading Series will be celebrating its third year running with a reading on Friday, November 9th (that’s tomorrow, y’all) at Downtown Books and News. Join us at 7pm to hear great writing from local authors including Katey Schultz, writer at large; lyric artist John Crutchfield; UNCAsheville faculty member and novelist Katherine Min; and fellow JBAC members Jesse Rice-Evans and Chett Tiller. It promises to be fun, is completely FREE and open to the public (with wine available by donation), and so there’s really no reason for you not to be there 
Saturday Nov. 17th: NaNoWriMo All-Day Write-in
You may or may not be aware of the furious wordsmithing that happens in November as part of National Novel Writing Month. An international movement, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo, or simply NaNo for short) invites anyone with a story and a means of composing words to write a fifty-thousand word manuscript in the course of the month of November. Slipshod words, sloppy plotlines, and rambling are all welcome: the point is to generate fifty thousand shiny new words to work on over the next year (before November shows up again).
Anyways, this year, JBAC is joining forces with NaNo in Asheville (AsheNoWriMo) and the UNCAsheville University Writing Center to host the “All-Day” Write-in on Saturday, November 17th. Stop by UNCA’s University Writing Center (located onthe first floor of Ramsey Library) at any point between 11am and 5pm for some writing company, word wars, bursts of inspiration, and what-have-you. This event is FREE and completely open to the public. Coffee and some light refreshments will be provided, though you get brownie points for bringing something else to share.
Sunday Nov 25th: Speedshopping Round 2
Last but not least, Speedshopping is back! JBAC presents Round 2 of its experimental workshop and networking experience, hosted by Apothecary Community Art Space. Bring in two copies of a short (2-4 page) excerpt of your latest masterwork and get feedback from REAL LIVE authors in a variety of genres. Almost like a swanky night at speed dating, you will have 10-12 minutes to swap excerpts, exchange pointed critique and a few well-placed adjectives before moving along to your next partner. We’ve got essayists, metafictionists, plot junkies, and enjambment fiends. Come enjoy coffee & tea (donations appreciated) and groove to some funky jams.
Be There!
We hope to see some folks out and about at these events, and we encourage you to spread the word, show up drunk, and bring friends. Either way, we hope you enjoy, get out there to read, write, and celebrate, and stay warm as the winter weather starts creeping up on us.
