The Writing Journey (aka the Journey) is the year-round,a la carte writing group that is associated with the Naperville region of National Novel Writing Month. It is a completely free writing group where all are welcome to participate in our many Paths. A Path is an activity or event or project that one or more Journey participants creates and coordinates. Paths can be a one-time social event like a lunch or dinner out at a restaurant or a picnic or a musical (like Next to Normal or Heathers) or they can be as complex as a short story anthology. Some recent popular Paths include: short story anthologies, the (in-person) Critiquing group, the Editing Path, the query path, the MiniWriMo challenge (10k in 2 weeks), the Writer’s Voice workshop, Shakespeare Reader’s Theatre, the Writing Excuses Master Class and the Poetry Path.
You do not need to be in the region to be a member of the Journey, though many of our events and activities are local. The Journey’s core track are a series of monthly general meetings January through June and again in September (we take off July, August, October, November and December). Each general meeting typically features two interactive workshops (each presented by one or more volunteers) and some story walls (which are small group feedback/advice sessions on your novel). Our sponsors are the Woodridge Public Library and the Glen Ellyn Public Library, so the meetings will be held there (see writingjourney.org/events for logistics). Meetings are typically Saturday afternoons.
To join (or rejoin for existing Journey members),please take this survey: http://journey.naperwrimo.org/survey2019/
Be sure to share your thoughts on new Paths you would like to see (e.g., there were some rumblings about a knitting Path and a children’s book writing Path; and I think it might be cool to have an improv Path).
2019 Journey Members
- NewMexicoKid
- Animollya
- Haberdashing
- samcadams
- odd soul
- Leslie Hatch Gail
- Squid
- Writertodd07
- Jessica Olive
- aprilkitty
- Grachael
- Loanfreestudent
- NaNoSue
- dohenyster
- anitairons
- Gwen Tolios
- DJRM
- Basil Cliffside
- pamebellezza
- tireddadx3
- cdecrease
- Whitey
- Cee-Bee
- LibraryLore
- KCSwier
- DiamondRuby73
- eleanor.roth
- Debko
- b-writer
- Annavaneast
- sadierose
- Memoir
- Mochomito
- Barbara
- fishmama
- dianaartemis
- corvus dubh
- India Powers
- elizhall
Shakespeare Reader’s Theatre is an open event (all are welcome; no previous experience is required) designed to give people the opportunity to read aloud the works of the great bard and to do some acting in a company of ones peers. This year, our Shakespeare Reader’s Theatre event will be Saturday, February 17th in the upstairs room at the Woodridge Public Library, 1-3 PM.