CIA Inkwell

04/01/2026

Happy April!

Today marks the start of Inkwell Refine + Reimagine. Inkwell R+R is a laid back writing challenge with a focus on writing or editing in the months of April & May. Set your own goal to help you refine and reimagine your story.

Our first write in happens tonight at Ankeny Public Library from 5:45 - 7:45. (there will be snacks). See the attached calendar for more write ins throughout April & May. Sunday write ins (except April 5th) will still be happening at the Caribou Coffee on Ingersoll from 9:30-12.

We hope to see at our events during R+R.

Happy writing!

11/14/2025

We had a great time last night at the West Des Moines Public Library. We wrote a little more than 22,000 words last night! Just a reminder tonight’s write in is at Panera bread on Ankeny blvd. See you there!

11/08/2025

Had a great time writing tonight. We wrote a collective total of 90,000 words!

11/07/2025

It is almost time for our write all night! Event starts at 5:30 pm tonight. For those that have not attended before the Johnston library is closed but someone will let you in the doors to the left of the main entrance. We look forward to writing with you all!

11/01/2025

We wrote almost 20,000 words total at Grimes Public Library! Next writing event is tomorrow at caribou coffee on Ingersoll from 9:30am to 12pm.

11/01/2025

It is time, Inkathon has officially started! We are excited for this month. Come join us today at Grimes library from 1 - 4:45 as we write all the words. Have you decided what you are going to write and what your goal for the month is?

10/27/2025

We are 6 days away from November 1st, we are gearing up to write all the words, Yay Crap!

Here is a recap of the Kick Off:

What is Inkathon?:
Inkathon is a writing challenge in November where you set your own writing goal to push yourself to write as many words as you can. The traditional goal is 50k words but you are not limited to that. You could track words, pages, hours, number of short stories or poems, your goal is up to you.

Our theme this year is “food around the world”. You will be collecting stickers to fill out your menu as you hit different milestones.

Inkwell Store: Our store is returning this year. We will have order forms at each event, we only take cash or venmo in person. Any proceeds from the store or donation go right back to the group to purchase goodies or giveaways.

Write All Night:
- Our write all night is happening Friday Nov. 7th, if you are planning on bringing anything to the potluck let us know.
- We are also taking book donations that we will be taking to the half price book store, so if you have any books you were looking to get rid of you can bring them to the write all night. We will use the money to purchase items for future giveaways.
- We will be having a giveaway during the write all night, we will be giving away 3 $15 store vouchers!

Raffle Baskets: We have 3 different raffle baskets you can enter to win. You can get entries by earning tickets, you will get one ticket for each in person event you attend as well as one ticket for every $10 you spend or donate to CIA. The three baskets will be at the write all night to view the contents.

Events: Check our google calendar for all our events happening in November

10/04/2025

Happy October!

Our November Inkathon is almost upon us! Our theme this year is 𝗳𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 We are excited to be partnering with several libraries this year! Johnston Public Library is hosting our Kick off, Write All Night & Wrap up. We are also partnering with both Grimes Public Library and West Des Moines Public Library. Grimes is hosting two write ins: Nov 1st and 22nd. West Des Moines is hosting one on Nov 13th.

To learn more about what Inkathon is and what we will be doing this year join us at our Kick off. We will be discussing what this year will look like. We will have goodies to hand out as well as a small giveaway.

𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀
Preptober:
- Oct 12th, 19th & 26th - Caribou Ingersoll (9:30am - 12pm)
- Oct 21st - Johnston Public Library (6pm - 8pm)
Kick off:
- Oct 25th - Johnston Public Library (2:00pm - 4:00pm)
Write All Night:
- Nov 7th - Johnston Public Library (5:30pm - 11:30pm)
Wrap up:
- Dec 6th - Johnston Public Library (2:00pm - 4:00pm)

Check the CIA’s google calendar (view on our website) to see when other write ins are happening.

If you have any questions about anything do not hesitate to ask.

05/16/2025

We are canceling the write in at Ames library on Saturday. But we hope to see you at our Panera write in on Sunday!

04/30/2025

May is almost here! Our first write in is tomorrow at the Urbandale Public Library from 6pm-8pm. I attached the calendar for this month for all our events.

Happy writing!

04/28/2025

Inkwell R+R is almost upon us! Our first event is on Thursday at the Urbandale Public Library from 6pm-8pm. We will also have this event available via discord. Here is the link to our discord if you haven’t joined yet, this link will be good for 1 week.

Check out the Central Iowa Authors community on Discord - hang out with 56 other members and enjoy free voice and text chat.

04/15/2025

We are excited for R+R to begin!

Inkwell R+R is a writing challenge with a focus on editing in May. Set your own editing or writing goal to help you refine and reimagine your story. There are writing events hosted throughout the month to help you reach your goal. Most have been added to the google calendar: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0?cid=Y2lhaW5rd2VsbEBnbWFpbC5jb20 for my Ames writers, we have a write in at the Ames library! More weekend events will be coming soon as we coordinate with various locations.

Events to note:

Kick Off - April 26th from 1-3pm in the large room at Johnston Public Library.

Potluck at the park - May 3rd from 11-3pm at Willow Springs Park in West Des Moines. This is R+Rs version of Write All Night. There will be food and lots of writing. There is a bathroom there that will be open as well as a power outlet. Just be aware that there will be no wifi, so make writing plans accordingly. Let us know if you are bringing any food.

Wrap Up - June 1st from 1-3 at the Grimes Public library meeting room A.

Goodies:
We have fun goodies this May to help motivate you to reach your goal. Everyone who participates will receive a tiny picnic basket and will be able to fill it with goodies as you reach your goal.

We hope to see you all there! If you have any questions do not hesitate to ask.