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Friday, October 25, 2013

Write a 50,000 word novel during NaNoWriMo


If you've always wanted to write a novel, but the thought of a blank page terrifies you, then NaNoWriMo is for you. Don‘t let the empty page paralyze you! National Novel Writing Month, which happens every November, is a chance to set your fear to the side and just write. Does just starting seem overwhelming to you? Let the library help.

The Library: Your NaNoWriMo partner

To help you get started with NaNoWriMo, we're hosting a kick off party on Tuesday, October 29th. You can learn more about NaNoWriMo, get signed up, and meet past participants. In November, we'll have weekly “write-ins” every Tuesday starting at 6 p.m. The write-ins are a great way to crank out a few thousand words, win silly prizes, and meet other NaNoWriMo participants.


Why should you come to the write-ins? Since you have to write 50,000 words by the end of month, the write-ins are crucial to your survival. This chart show my daily word counts for the last two years. See those spikes in activity? Those are write-ins that I attended. Each time, my productivity does way up.

If you need more write-ins and more NaNo support, Oakton Community College also can help. They‘re hosting write-ins at the Des Plaines campus, have a few special events, and great resources to help you survive NaNo. Visit their NaNoWriMo resource guide to learn more.

Social writing is fun writing




Frankly, I think “write-ins” are the best part of NaNoWriMo. You‘re sharing in a fun and stressful event with other people, and get to talk about writing and books with like-minded people. It‘s worth mentioning that last year‘s participants went on to start our writing group.

Interested in this DIY writing extravaganza? Come to our kickoff party on October 29th and visit our NaNoWriMo page to learn more.

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Download Free Music Faster with Freegal


Freegal music—our downloadable music service—has a new home page that makes downloading music easier and faster. You also can download music videos to keep, just like the music tracks. Freegal includes the entire Sony catalog in addition to a huge collection of independent music through their partnership with Independent Online Distribution Alliance (IODA).

Here's a look at some of the benefits of the new layout:

Easy browsing




Start browsing even before logging in with your Des Plaines Library card. Share links to albums and songs with your friends.

Know what's new




Get news and learn about upcoming releases. Imagine grabbing a song of a popular artist the day it is released.

Genres for everyone




Not interested in POP?  Every genre is represented.  How’s Bruce Springsteen or the opera Parsifal for variety.

Starting downloading

Find things you want to download then transfer to other devices, or use the Freegal APP on your mobile device. All you need is your DPPL library card and get your three free songs (or one video and a song) per week.

To get started go to right to Freegal or visit our eDPPL page to learn more.


Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/philips_newscenter/