Celebrate the National Day on Writing!

The National Writing Project, together with NCTE, is inviting all of us to consider WHY WE WRITE on the National Day on Writing, October 20, 2011.

At Rhode Island College, I will be leading a Writing Marathon between 12-2:00 tomorrow (Thursday, 10/20). Several classes of students, including my own, will visit four "stops" on campus, places where students rarely (have time to) go, and places on our campus that are "hidden gems" and that might offer folks a different perspective of their school. We will be visiting Bannister Gallery, the track/bleachers (a great view of the foliage, if the weather permits), Alumni House, and the sculpture and "waves of learning" near the Cafe. At each stop, folks will sit down and write. While we will have a consistent prompt all day--Why do I write?--I will also invite people to write about whatever inspires them, catches their eye, carries them away at the moment. In a way, a Writing Marathon serves as a kind of "mental floss," a way to clear out the clutter that has been building up since September 1, a way to calm the noise in our heads, a way to write for writing's sake, a way to write for the self and not for the teacher.

I hope you will join me, at your school, in your Department, or in your classroom, in celebrating the National Day on Writing this year. Show your students that you can take time out for writing. Write with your students and show them that you're a writer, too!

Also, check out the resources that the NWP has compiled for your use (see the right-hand margin for links to great articles on writing!).