The National Day on Writing

September 13, 9:39 PMRomance Novel ExaminerMaddie James

The National Day on Writing, October 20, 2009, is an effort to celebrate the written word. Established by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), a professional association of educators in English Studies, Literacy, and Language Arts, the day features writing in all its forms—fiction, non-fiction, letters, emails, text messages, and so on.

We all use writing everyday and in many ways. We use it to inform and entertain, to provide direction or explanation, to alert and to notify, and in many other ways. Technology increases the opportunities for us to write on a daily basis. Just think how many different ways we can spread the written word today, than say, twenty years ago. This blog being one example.

Even our government is getting in on the act. The House of Representatives will be considering a resolution declaring October 20,2009, the National Day on Writing.

Part of NCTE’s Day on Writing is to showcase writing from people all over our country. To this end they have created the National Gallery of Writing. NCTE has created partnerships with several national organizations, such as theNational Center for Family Literacy, in hosting a number of partner galleries within the site. Anyone can host a gallery and I have decided to host one of my own.

Romancing the Written Word is a local gallery I am hosting within the National Gallery and I invited you to submit! This is a chance to showcase an unpublished work of yours you would like to share with others. These short works of romantic fiction must not contain explicit, graphic sexual situations. The guidelines are posted on the site.

You may submit your writing anytime starting now through next summer. The galleries will not officially open to the public until the launch on October 20.

So please consider submitting a short piece of romantic fiction to this gallery! Visit the Romancing the Written Word gallery and follow the sign-up directions. You’re invited!

You may also want to follow the National Day on Writing on Facebook,Twitter, or Ning.