National Day of Writing Celebration – Why I Write
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The KUWC is celebrating the National Day of Writing by. . . writing! We want to share with you why we write and what we are doing to celebrate The National Day of Writing.
Here is what the Writing Across the Curriculum team has to say about why they write.
Why I Write
Chrissine Rios – Kaplan University Writing Center
I write because I love writing, and the more I write, the more I discover about myself and this world, so in that way, I write to learn, but I also write to help others as best I can. Ultimately, however, I write to be who I am because I’m a writer!
Ellen Manning – Kaplan University Composition Department
Writing is my companion, my inner voice, my connection to myself. While I write for many purposes, ultimately I have to dig into my repository of knowledge and feelings to frame my ideas, even with research.
Amy Sexton – Kaplan University Writing Center
I write to communicate with others, express myself, and understand the world around me.
Danielle Miller – Kaplan University Composition Department
Creative writing widens when…
Good men go bad.
Aggravation abides.
Frustration flourishes.
Solitude scatters.
Devastation divides.
Powerlessness becomes purpose.
Loss leaks in.
Bewilderedness beckons.
The need to wander washes up but the inability to get lost staggers.
Robley Hood – Kaplan University Writing Center
I write to keep myself alert to the world outside and the world inside. As writer and professor Ken Macrorie wrote, “People who daily expect to encounter fabulous realities run smack into them again and again. They keep their minds open for their eyes.” Keeping a daily blog has taught me to find the wonder in everyday living.
Allen Miller – Kaplan University Writing Center
I write as part of my job. I write for personal communication with others. I write for enjoyment, and I write because I find it to be the most effective way to communicate in general. It not only allows me to express my thoughts and ideas, but it allows me to edit and correct them to make sure I am saying what I mean to say.
Sheryl Bone – Kaplan University Composition Department
[I write] to communicate, express myself and connect with others.
Molly Write Starkweather – Kaplan University Writing Center
I write to advance good writing in others. My only publications so far have been pedagogical, but with an eye toward innovation . . . Some people are poets, and others are novelists. I write about teaching and tutoring writing.
Barbara Green – Kaplan University Composition Department
My favorite type of writing is creative writing. I love creative writing because it gives me a chance to give into my imagination and escape into a world of my own making while developing characters and crafting a story that is a special type of fun for me.
Here is how we plan to celebrate the National Day of Writing:
Danielle Miller
To celebrate the National Day of Writing I am collecting professional accounts of “Why I Write.” I have started uploading them to Doc Sharing in my classes with the hopes that my aspiring nurses, law enforcement agents, etc. will understand the connections between General Education classes and their future careers.
Ellen Manning
My plans for the National Day of Writing is to add to my personal blog some musings about the past couple of months when I struggled with several major issues. I can see a light at the end of this trying journey and want to share that with others. As I said above, writing is my companion, my inner psychiatrist and mentor. Expressing my thoughts into words helps me see more clearly how I have traversed both the rough and calm waters of life.
Barbara Green
What do I plan to do for NDoW? WRITE! Uh…until my son wakes up from his late nap, that is! Then, it’s off to read to him in the hopes of creating a future writer!
Sheryl Bone
I will celebrate the National Day of Writing by helping my kids’ school with their National Day of Writing events in the classroom.
Molly Wright Starkweather
I like collaborative writing, so I will likely try to participate in spontaneous story-telling in a Facebook status thread. Creative writers I know will often post an image to set the scene of a short story in a status update, as in “You visit a long-lost friend in her home and notice no family photos on the walls, but many notebooks. What do the notebooks have in them, and why are there no pictures on the wall?” Hundreds of possibilities exist with our imaginations, and different people comment with different ideas about who this woman is and where she has come from. Some comments continue the thoughts of others, creating a larger narrative. This kind of spontaneous, collaborative storytelling is fun and fast, since comments can be as short or as long as one might like.
Melody Pickle
I am celebrating NDoW by posting this blog and spending a few minutes outside with my tea jotting things down in a journal or whatever happens to be handy.
How are you celebrating the National Day of Writing?
by Melody Pickle