The National Gallery of Writing

The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) has declared October 20, 2009 to be the National Day on Writing.  The NCTE's goal is to make everyone aware that they are writers.  You may not be a professional writer, but if you write, you are a writer.  It doesn't matter if you you are a stay-at-home mom, a plumber, a doctor, an IT person, a bus driver, a hedge fund manager, whatever. If you form words with a pen, pencil, quill, or a keyboard, you are a writer. 

To honor the day, the NCTE has opened the National Gallery of Writing, a website that allows people to share their writing. The National Gallery consists of a bunch of smaller galleries, each of which is overseen by a curator.  You choose the gallery to which you want to send your writing, and the curator decides if it is worthy of inclusion.  Galleries are grouped both geographically and thematically, and as of today there are 545 galleries.  Again, the whole point of this gallery is to recognize that we are all writers, so the curators have been encouraged to be "broad-minded and inclusive." The National Gallery will open on October 20. If you want to be published but have never taken that first step, this is the place to start. If you are an educator, consider opening a gallery and becoming a curator. 

To see more about the National Gallery of Writing and to submit your piece, click here.

To get you motivated to submit something, watch "Who is a Writer: What Writers Tell Us," produced by the Council of Writing Program Administrators. The video is a compilation of footage from across the US, and in it we hear writers tell compelling stories that demonstrate that everyone is a writer, contrary to what we might read or hear in the media. Really--watch the video.  From a motivational standpoint, it is to writing what Chariots of Fire is to running.  If this doesn't get you writing, nothing will. 

 

Comments

[Linda Adler-Kassner]

I was just clicking around in the National Gallery today - they have something like 500+ galleries! Also: "Who is a Writer" will soon be part of another *very* cool project from the Council of Writing Program Administrators Network for Media Action called the National Conversation on Writing -- the URL is www.ncow.org/site. Check it out!