Image: "Miss A Writes a Song" by mrsdkrebs
The National Day on Writing takes place on Friday, October 19, 2012. This year, its creator the National Writing Project (NWP) is being joined by the National Council of Teachers of English, the New York Times Learning Network, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), Edutopia, Mozilla Hive Learning Network NYC, and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting to expand the day’s reach.
For 2012, the NWP’s focus is on what people write. (Last year’s campaign highlighted why people write.) To participate this year, post your writing online and then share it via social media. From the NWP site:
We're encouraging everyone to share their actual writing in all its forms via Facebook , Twitter , Google+ , Instagram , or NWP Connect.
When tweeting out links to your compositions, include the hashtag #whatiwrite. If you have space, consider including the hashtags #nwp and #dayonwriting. Also include the #whatiwrite hashtag on Google+ and Instagram posts, and as a tag for your own blog or NWP Connect posts.
By using hashtags, anyone can find and then read or join the conversation. As the use of these hashtags increase, the topic trends on Twitter and more people read about it and can join. A community of self-identified writers grows from the communication.
Why join this community? The National Writing Project believes that "...writing, in its many forms, is the signature means of communication in the 21st century." To write well in the many online forms available today means to be heard and acknowledged. Posting writing online and getting feedback from the community helps writers hone their craft, spark new ideas, and create connections with other writers. All of this leads to more writing, and the more anyone writes, the better at it he or she will become.
Having the power to express oneself well through writing, in any community, has become a vital life skill in this digital and social-media-driven age.
This is my post for the 2012 Blog Action Day conversation on "the Power of We". #powerofwe #bad12
