A November Write-In Kit for Libraries and Writing Groups
This kit is for whoever books the room: a librarian, or the person who keeps a writing group going. Four weeks of November, three timed session formats, printable sheets, and a December session for the pages. None of it needs a platform or an account.
What changed, and what didn't
The nonprofit behind National Novel Writing Month announced in spring 2025 that it was shutting down (Publishers Weekly, April 2025, read 17 September 2026).
Its program for libraries, bookstores and other neighborhood spaces connected each venue with the month's local participants. It also sent a poster, a window cling and some bookmarks, for the cost of shipping (archived program page, 2016 snapshot, read 17 September 2026).
A host now brings the room, the hours, the clock and the sheets herself. This kit is the clock and the sheets.
What the month asks of a writer is unchanged: a fixed window, a target she sets, and company at the same hour. The tradition counts novel words; this kit checks no genre: an essay, a screenplay or a run of articles keeps the clock.
Fifty thousand words is the traditional target; a writer can pick a smaller number, or count minutes instead. The arithmetic behind that number is on its own page. So is which communities are running the month this year, for participants who ask.
The four weeks
One session a week is the rhythm this kit assumes; two a week works when the room is free, formats alternating. In 2026, November 1 is a Sunday and November 30 a Monday, so the first and last sessions may move by a day.
| Week | Dates | Session | The host prepares |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kickoff | Last week of October | Planning evening, 90 minutes, for anyone who wants a premise sentence and a first scene before the 1st | Sign-in sheet; the October plan printed for anyone starting late |
| 1 | November 1-7 | Opening write-in, 2 hours | Wall tracker up, timetable on the door, a stack of session sheets |
| 2 | November 8-14 | Sprint session, 90 minutes | A timer and a list of prompt words |
| 3 | November 15-21 | Write-in, 2 hours | A roll of paper on one wall, for anyone who wants to draw the shape of the book so far |
| 4 | November 22-30 | Write-in, then the end-of-month session on the 30th or the nearest open day | A final-count column on the wall tracker; the December date, announced since week 3 |
| December | First or second week | Reading session, 90 minutes | Nothing to print: the writers bring the pages |
Three session formats, with the clock
A session is a clock everyone in the room agrees to. The minutes below are options a host picks on the day; a room of four and a room of forty run on the same ones.
The write-in, two hours
- 0-10: arrivals. Each writer signs in and writes a goal for the session on her sheet, in words or in minutes.
- 10-15: one round of the room, first names and what each person is working on, a sentence each. Optional after week one.
- 15-60: quiet writing.
- 60-70: break. Water, outlets, a word with a neighbor.
- 70-110: quiet writing.
- 110-120: end count on the sheet, one line on the wall tracker, chairs back.
The host keeps the clock and keeps the quiet. In this format nobody reads aloud and nobody is asked how it went; the sheet does the asking.
The sprint session, 90 minutes
A sprint is a timed burst with a start count and an end count. A host picks one length and keeps it all evening; the clock below is drawn for ten minutes and for twenty, five minutes between sprints.
- 0-10: arrivals, start count on the sheet.
- 10-80: the sprints. Five of ten minutes: 10-20, 25-35, 40-50, 55-65, 70-80. Or three of twenty: 10-30, 35-55, 60-80. A prompt word on the board before each one, for anyone who wants it.
- 80-90: end count, a line on the wall tracker, done.
The number on the sheet compares a writer with her own last session, never with the table. Reading numbers out loud is opt-in, and stays opt-in all month.
The end-of-month session, two hours
- 0-15: arrivals, final count entered on the sheet and on the wall.
- 15-75: a last hour of writing for anyone still finishing; a reading corner for anyone who has stopped.
- 75-105: an open reading, three minutes per reader, sign-up on the door as people arrive. Nobody is called on.
- 105-120: the December date, said out loud and written on the wall.
Roles and the room
Two roles cover a room of any size: a host at the door and a timekeeper at the clock. Under ten people they are the same person; over twenty, a third person holds the online room if there is one.
The room: tables near power outlets, water on a side table, one wall or flipchart for the tracker. A printed timetable on the door tells latecomers where the clock stands. A sign on the door saying which minutes are quiet saves the announcement.
Writers bring what they write in. Notebooks, phones and laptops sit at the same table, and the sheet asks for a number, never for a file.
Accessible by default
A hybrid session is the same clock with a video link. The host reads each transition aloud, cameras stay optional, and online writers keep the same sheet, on paper or in any document. Post the link with the session; nothing else has to be joined.
Nothing in this kit asks anyone to sign up anywhere: the sign-in is paper, the tracker is a wall, the timer is whatever the host owns. Large-type timetables, a seat by the door and a lit corner cost a page and a lamp.
The sheets to print
Two sheets, both tables, both on one page. Print a stack; a writer keeps hers all month.
Session sign-in
One line per writer per session. It asks for what the session uses and nothing else; if you need to reach people between sessions, one email column marked optional is enough.
| First name | Session goal (words or minutes) | Start count | End count | Words this session |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Month tracker
One sheet per writer, one line per day or per session, whichever she prefers. The last column is hers: a note to self, never a note to the host.
| Date | Session or home | Count at start | Count at end | Note to self |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 1 | ||||
| Nov 2 | ||||
| Nov 3 | ||||
| (one line per day) | ||||
| Nov 30 |
The wall tracker is the same thing at room scale: a sheet of paper, one line per writer under a first name or a pen name. One box per session, a tick or a number in each. Nobody has to be on it.
The December session
A draft is a complete state of the text, however rough (what a draft is). The December session is for reading it; fixing comes later.
Ninety minutes: forty of silent reading, each writer on her own pages. Then a round of the room: what the book turned out to be about, one sentence each.
The host ends by naming the three passes that come after a draft, re-making choices, line editing and proofreading (the difference between them).
The count served the draft. In revision a good day can end with fewer words than it started with, so the December sheet counts sessions rather than words. What the rest of the writing year looks like is on its own page.
Take it, print it
You can print, copy, adapt and hand out this kit, with a line saying where it came from. It is published under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 licence: translate it, add your dates, put your own logo on the sheets. Here is the line, ready to copy:
> From A November Write-In Kit for Libraries and Writing Groups, scrin.app/guides/november-write-in-kit/
If your library or group runs the month differently, the sheets are tables: add a column, drop one, keep the clock.