Washington, Lincoln, and Jefferson: Spark Writing Interest

How do you get kids interested in writing? Well, there’s no easy answer to that question, but I do know a way that may help and it involves Washington, Lincoln, and Jefferson. Confused? Don’t be. I’m basically talking about moving writing from a solely classroom experience to a real-life experience in the form of selling writing.

It’s always amazed me that teachers neglect to point out that there are writers who actually write for a living. Sure students realize that authors of books are paid, but do they realize that those articles in their favorite magazines have authors as well? That the funny saying on the birthday card they gave to a friend has an author? And these same authors are paid to write. Sure it seems obvious when you think about it, but when you don’t, it’s easy to miss the obvious. Students usually see writing as something that their teachers made up to torture them, not as something that could serve a purpose.

The first step in freelance writing is not to write the short stories, poetry, and feature articles, but to research different avenues of publication first and discover just what it takes to sell writing. Two of the best freelance writing starting points that I have found are:

Freelance Writing at About.com with host Kimberly Hill http://freelancewrite.about.com She includes everything from a Jobs/Markets Page to a Freelance Writing jumpstart center. The articles are wonderful addressing areas that you may have never realized are important such as contracts. One of the nicest features is a newsletter that can be sent to your email address.

Freelance Writing at Suite 101.com with Bev Walton-Porter http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/free...

Very impressive collection of articles ranging from interviews with authors to helping your writing flow. You don’t even have to want to sell your writing in order to benefit from this site. The best-of-web links will take you to many good freelance writing sites.

And of course you can always thumb through the latest edition of Writer’s Market. And of course don’t forget the query letters, citations, brainstorming, rejection letters, acceptance letters, terminology…there’s a lot to learn and in many ways gearing writing toward actual markets will teach students more about writing than having students write another descriptive paragraph. Although your students may never sell anything at all, at least they will have learned the process and perhaps gain an appreciation for what it takes to be a writer.

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