#WhyIWrite: Hashtag Encourages People to Share Why They Write on National Day on Writing
The National Council of Teachers of English, the National Writing Project and the Teaching Channel have used the hashtag to celebrate National Day on Writing on Oct. 20 since 2011. The purpose of this is to encourage teachers, students and the world at large to celebrate the National Day on Writing by sharing their thoughts on Twitter.
Inspired by a classic essay by George Orwell, the group first put out the call for people to tweet with the hashtag #WhyIWrite way back in 2011, and it was an instant success. Thousands participated, from well-known adult writers like Neil Gaiman and Diane Ravitch to second graders who posted with invented spelling.
This year, think about what writing means to you — expand your definition of “writing” beyond classroom products like essays to include song lyrics, film scripts, poems, diary entries, blog comments, infographics, social media posts, gaming, storyboards, lab reports, videos, slideshows, podcasts or lines of code.
Then, post your thoughts, ideas, work, memories, photos, illustrations, videos or anything else you’d like, and join the #WhyIWrite conversation. You can also see what’s posted there via the NCTE’s tagboard , which is already full of interesting stuff.
I write to bring beauty to the flawed, and flaws to the beautiful.#whyiwrite Peyton
— Leah Paul (@llpaul504) October 20, 2011
Because my classmates in third grade wanted to know how my ghost story ended. Seriously. #whyIwrite — Elizabeth Schneider (@edingmann) October 20, 2011
My 6th grade teacher told me I was a poet. I believed her. #WhyIwrite
— RebeccaAddison (@Icepacklady) October 20, 2011
