Main Street Books, 110 East Main Street, Suite 100 in downtown Monroe, will host the first Writer in a Window event on Small Business Saturday, November 25. From 10am until 6pm, author Denise Ohio and friends will take turns sitting in the front window of Monroe’s favorite local bookstore as they work on their fiction, nonfiction, and poetry projects.
Main Street Books owner Emily Newman has always supported local authors by hosting the monthly Monroe Writers Group and local author readings and book signings. Ohio came up with Writer in a Window soon after the Doloff-Key’s storefront at Lewis and Main became empty. “I thought it was a shame for those nice, tall windows on an historical building in the middle of town to be empty. When I wanted to do an arts event featuring writers as part of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), I considered asking the Doloff-Key owners if I could use the space. But then I realized I already knew someone right down the street who would love the idea. When I asked Emily if she would host Writer in a Window, she was already saying yes before I finished talking.”
“A lot of people think writers are hermits,” Ohio continued. “And a lot of us are. But not all the time. Writer in a Window can help writers find a support system and let Monroe show off the number of writers and other artists who live here. There are a lot of writers, and visual and performing artists all over the Sky Valley—Monroe could easily become known for its art community with events like this. Plus, I just thought it would be fun.”
Writer in a Window will feature writers working on their novels, short stories, memoirs, or other projects, shared on video display as they’re being written, revised, and deleted. “Depending on how it goes, you may even see me crumple up pages and throw them on the floor while using what my mom used to call Adult Language,” Ohio said. “Writing is fascinating, frustrating, and challenging. I hope Writer in a Window will help local writers find each other to help ease the pain while giving our writing community a greater profile.”
Emily Newman took over Main Street Books in 1921 after growing up in libraries. Emily’s artistic shop is full of used titles, with a curated selection of popular and recommended new books. The walls are decorated by hand-painted murals and you can often find bookstore cat, Miranda, slinking around the shelves. See more at Main St. Books Monroe | Main St. Books Monroe WA (mainstbooksmonroe.com).
Ohio has published essays, articles, and criticism, as well as three novels, The Finer Grain (Naiad), End of the Empire (St. Martin’s), and Blue (McPherson & Co.), as well as nonfiction, Five Essential Steps in Digital Video: A DV Moviemaker’s Tricks of the Trade (Pearson Education/Que), and The Curious Case of the City of Everett (Holy Toledo). You can also watch a trailer of her documentary, Verona: The Story of the Everett Massacre (Virgil Entertainment) and see the entire film on streaming services iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, and VUDU. Learn more about Ohio and her work on holytoledo.com. She’s currently working on her fourth novel, Crossing of the Fathers, the first in an historical fiction series about the Everett Massacre. She and her spouse live outside Monroe where they raise lavender and honeybees.