Write Time, Write Place

Prompts and events for getting outside and using your senses, from the National Writing Project

It’s the weekend so I’ll keep it quick, but this is cool: October 12 marks the beginning of Write Out, an annual, two-week, undertaking of the National Writing Project, developed in conjunction with the National Park Service. It’s all about getting outside, engaging with your environment — and writing.

I wrote about the big-picture idea back in July:

Write about your environment, write to your environment, observe and attend to nature, use the craft of writing to sharpen your senses, and use your senses to sharpen your writing. “The goal is to be inspired by the world around us and to connect and learn through place-based writing and sharing,” the NWP writes.

This year the theme is Awaken The Senses — and I’m infinitely pleased to say that I contributed one of this year’s menu of prompts: Shuffle Your Senses.

Check out all this year’s prompts here.

Also there are a number of Write Out events to note, including one featuring me! For a fuller list, go here; scroll down for all kinds of local events (and ideas for your own activities). But here are a couple of big ones:

• Tuesday October 14, 2025, 7pm ET/4pm PT: Online broadcast with chat, featuring writer/educator/consultant James Fester. Fester has worked as a classroom teacher, instructional coach, technology director, and curriculum specialist for over twenty years. … He serves as a facilitator for the National Park Services’ Teacher-Ranger-Teacher program. Broadcast of recorded interview with chat enabled will be here.

• Thursday October 16, 2025, 7p ET/4p PT, and Thursday October 23, 2025
  7p ET/4p PT, Live Zoom events. Write Out invites you to take a moment to “park” yourself, write and awaken the senses. Connect via Zoom with friends and colleagues to write and share. (I’m hoping to check out one of these.) RSVP to attend October 16 → and RSVP to attend October 23 →

• Tuesday October 21, 2025, 7pm ET/4pm PT. The Write Time online broadcast with chat, with Write Out Ambassador Rob Walker. (That’s me.) We’ve already recorded my conversation with educator Kevin Hodgson — it was really great! Kevin, turned out, had some excellent prompts of his own. I hope you’ll check it out. YouTube link coming soon; I’ll share in the newsletter, or subscribe to @NWP at YouTube.

Meanwhile, go here and scroll down for various local events that may inspire you, and here for some sense-awakening prompts. Unfortunately some local events tied to national parks may be affected by the government shutdown. But the underlying idea can’t be taken away: Take inspiration to get out and use all your senses to attend to the world. And, yes, write about it! As I said earlier:

It’s one thing to promise yourself to appreciate The Great Outdoors, some time in the future. It’s something else to attend to The Available Outdoors, right now.

Further Write Out news available via the project’s newsletter. You can also get some Write Out postcards, and info for educators on Write Out Teacher Studio badges, here.

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HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

• As always, I value your feedback (suggestions, critiques, positive reinforcement, constructive insults, etc.), as well as your tips or stories or personal noticing rituals, things we need a word for, and of course your icebreakers: consumed@robwalker.net. Or use the comments.

And thanks for reading …
rw

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All this by Rob Walker PO Box 171, 748 Mehle St., Arabi LA 70032 . Send me a Write Out postcard! :)

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