Words Matter Week

We’d like to offer a hearty thanks to everyone who blogged in the Words Matter Week 2011 blog challenge. It was a delight to read the posts, and we particularly enjoyed visiting writers and blogs we’d never before encountered.

We’re delighted to announce the 2011 challenge winners. Yes, you read that right. Winners, plural. You see, we had a bit of technical difficulty in choosing a name out of the bowl. Olivia, NAIWE’s official random selector has extremely fuzzy paws. After a few tries in which most of the names were drawn at once, she finally drew only two in one swipe, and seeming to feel that her job was done, walked off.

That’s why we’re awarding two $25 Amazon.com gift certificates for blogging on all five topics. The winners are Debra of Footprints in the Butter, and Lindsay Oberst of Word Zeal. Congratulations to both of you!

Here’s the blog challenge question for  Friday, March 11, 2011.

Words, like moths, are captured by writers who pin them to the page in various forms. What writer’s work most deftly captivates you? Why?

If you’d like to participate in the challenge, write a post on your own blog on the topic of the day, then visit the Words Matter blog to leave your post title and link in the comment section so that others can enjoy what you’ve written. Be sure to share your posts in Facebook, Twitter, and other social media!

Background: In honor of Words Matter Week, a holiday that is celebrated annually the first full week in March, the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (NAIWE) is hosting a Blog Challenge with a specific daily topic Monday through Friday.

Each blogger that posts a response to each day’s challenge (a total of five posts) will be entered into a drawing for a $25 gift card to Amazon.com. The winner will be announced in the next issue of The Edge, NAIWE’s e-mail newsletter. (If you don’t receive it yet, you may subscribe at the NAIWE homepage).

Remember to write the post on your own blog, adding a link to this post. Return to this page and add a comment on this post, with the title of your response and a link to your post.

“It is necessary to write, if the days are not to slip emptily by.  How else, indeed, to clap the net over the butterfly of the moment?  For the moment passes, it is forgotten; the mood is gone; life itself is gone.  That is where the writer scores over his fellows:  he catches the changes of his mind on the hop.”

~Vita Sackville-West

For Thursday, March 10, 2011, please share your favorite funny word story:

Words can be mangled, misused, or misunderstood. What is your funniest example of mangling, misuse, or misunderstanding?

If you’d like to participate in the challenge, write a post on your own blog on the topic of the day, then visit the Words Matter blog to leave your post title and link in the comment section so that others can enjoy what you’ve written. Be sure to share your posts in Facebook, Twitter, and other social media!

Background: In honor of Words Matter Week, a holiday that is celebrated annually the first full week in March, the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (NAIWE) is hosting a Blog Challenge with a specific daily topic Monday through Friday.

Each blogger that posts a response to each day’s challenge (a total of five posts) will be entered into a drawing for a $25 gift card to Amazon.com. The winner will be announced in the next issue of The Edge, NAIWE’s e-mail newsletter. (If you don’t receive it yet, you may subscribe at the NAIWE homepage).

Remember to write the post on your own blog, adding a link to this post. Return to this page and add a comment on this post, with the title of your response and a link to your post.

“Words ought to be a little wild, for they are the assaults of thoughts on the unthinking.”

~John Maynard Keynes

The blog challenge question for Wednesday, March 9, 2011, is an easy one:

What is your favorite quote about words? Why?

If you’d like to participate in the challenge, write a post on your own blog on the topic of the day, then visit the Words Matter blog to leave your post title and link in the comment section so that others can enjoy what you’ve written. Be sure to share your posts in Facebook, Twitter, and other social media!

Background: In honor of Words Matter Week, a holiday that is celebrated annually the first full week in March, the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (NAIWE) is hosting a Blog Challenge with a specific daily topic Monday through Friday.

Each blogger that posts a response to each day’s challenge (a total of five posts) will be entered into a drawing for a $25 gift card to Amazon.com. The winner will be announced in the next issue of The Edge, NAIWE’s e-mail newsletter. (If you don’t receive it yet, you may subscribe at the NAIWE homepage).

Remember to write the post on your own blog, adding a link to this post. Return to this page and add a comment on this post, with the title of your response and a link to your post.

“I am returning this otherwise good typing paper to you because someone has printed gibberish all over it and put your name at the top.”

~English Professor (Name Unknown), Ohio University

Here’s the blog challenge question for Tuesday, March 8, 2011.

Words can change history.

What speech or document do you believe to be most important? Why?

If you’d like to participate in the challenge, write a post on your own blog on the topic of the day, then visit the Words Matter blog to leave your post title and link in the comment section so that others can enjoy what you’ve written. Be sure to share your posts in Facebook, Twitter, and other social media!

Background: In honor of Words Matter Week, a holiday that is celebrated annually the first full week in March, the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (NAIWE) is hosting a Blog Challenge with a specific daily topic Monday through Friday.

Each blogger that posts a response to each day’s challenge (a total of five posts) will be entered into a drawing for a $25 gift card to Amazon.com. The winner will be announced in the next issue of The Edge, NAIWE’s e-mail newsletter. (If you don’t receive it yet, you may subscribe at the NAIWE homepage).

Remember to write the post on your own blog, adding a link to this post. Return to this page and add a comment on this post, with the title of your response and a link to your post.

“I do not agree with a word that you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

Voltaire

Here’s the blog challenge question for Monday, March 7, 2011.

Is there a word that has changed, or could change your life? What is it, and what difference would it make?

If you’d like to participate in the challenge, write a post on your own blog on the topic of the day, then visit the Words Matter blog to leave your post title and link in the comment section so that others can enjoy what you’ve written. Be sure to share your posts in Facebook, Twitter, and other social media!

Background: In honor of Words Matter Week, a holiday that is celebrated annually the first full week in March, the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (NAIWE) is hosting a Blog Challenge with a specific daily topic Monday through Friday.

Each blogger that posts a response to each day’s challenge (a total of five posts) will be entered into a drawing for a $25 gift card to Amazon.com. The winner will be announced in the next issue of The Edge, NAIWE’s e-mail newsletter. (If you don’t receive it yet, you may subscribe at the NAIWE homepage).

Remember to write the post on your own blog, adding a link to this post. Return to this page and add a comment on this post, with the title of your response and a link to your post.

“In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

Words Matter Week will be held March 6-12, 2011. The Words Matter quote for the 2011 event is:

Without words, without writing and without books there would be no history, there could be no concept of humanity.

Hermann Hesse

We’ve posted the 2011 Words Matter Week downloadable poster, and you’re welcome to copy and share the image on your own website. You may also download, print, and post the poster anywhere you choose. Just be sure to link back to this site (http://WordsMatterWeek.com), so that your readers can learn more about the event.

The Blog Challenge Questions for each day will be posted in a new post on the blog (just go to http://wordsmatter.naiwe.com to see the individual question posted in the most recent post). For each day of the blog challenge, post a response on your blog, then come back the Words Matter blog and leave the title of your post and a link in the comment section of the challenge post. You may write your posts ahead and schedule them to appear on the appropriate day of the challenge.

If you write a post for each day’s topic (a total of five posts), you’ll be entered into a drawing for a $25 Amazon.com gift certificate. We’ll announce the winner in the April issue of The Edge.

Blog Challenge Questions

Monday, March 7

Is there a word that has changed, or could change your life? What is it, and what difference would it make?

Tuesday, March 8

Words can change history. What speech or document do you believe to be most important. Why?

Wednesday, March 9

What is your favorite quote about words? Why?

Thursday, March 10

Words can be mangled, misused, or misunderstood. What is your funniest example of mangling, misuse, or misunderstanding?

Friday, March 11

Words, like moths, are captured by writers who pin them to the page in various forms. What writer’s work most deftly captivates you? Why?

Remember, don’t leave your links on this post. Instead, wait for the challenge post to appear on the blog (it will show up shortly after midnight on its appointed day), then post your title, link, and comment in the comment area for that post.

We thoroughly enjoyed reading all the blog challenge entries, and were delighted to have so many participants. Seven bloggers posted on all five topics, and we offer special thanks to each of them.

• Charlene M. Ashendorf
• Stephanie Ann Barrows
• Ronna DeLoe
• Margo J. Dills
• Sharon O’Brien Huey
• Leigh A Smith
• Susan Torna

The winner of the $20 Amazon gift certificate was randomly chosen from a hat by NAIWE’s official feline representative, Olivia. Large fuzzy paws necessitated a couple of tries to extract only one name, but she finally settled on Sharon O’Brien Huey of the Sharontology blog, who will receive the gift certificate via e-mail.

We hope everyone enjoyed participating in Words Matter Week 2010, and we hope you’ll join us next year for Words Matter Week 2011!

The National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (NAIWE), the professional association with the career-building difference, and Photographer Blue, an international directory of wedding and portrait photographers, are sponsors of Words Matter Week 2010.

Here’s the blog challenge question for Friday, March 5, 2010:

What person in your life helped you understand the importance of choosing words carefully? What would you say to them if you met them today?

If you’d like to participate in the challenge, write a post on your own blog on the topic of the day, then visit the Words Matter blog to leave your post title and link in the comment section so that others can enjoy what you’ve written. Be sure to share your posts in Facebook, Twitter, and other social media!

Background: In honor of Words Matter Week, a holiday that is celebrated annually the first full week in March, the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (NAIWE) is hosting a Blog Challenge with a specific daily topic Monday through Friday.

Each blogger that posts a response to each day’s challenge (a total of five posts) will be entered into a drawing for a $20 gift card to Amazon.com. The winner will be announced in the next issue of The Edge, NAIWE’s e-mail newsletter. (If you don’t receive it yet, you may subscribe at the NAIWE homepage). Remember to write the post on your own blog, adding a link to this post. Return to this page and add a comment on this post, with the title of your response and a link to your post.

“Everywhere I go I’m asked if I think the university stifles writers. My opinion is that they don’t stifle enough of them.”

Flannery O’Connor

NAIWE and Photographer Blue, sponsors of Words Matter Week, thank you for joining us in the blog challenge. If you’d like to become a NAIWE member, join us this week and receive a special bonus!

Here’s the blog challenge question for Thursday, March 4, 2010:

If you had to eliminate one word or phrase from the English language, what would it be? Why?

If you’d like to participate in the challenge, write a post on your own blog on the topic of the day, then visit the Words Matter blog to leave your post title and link in the comment section so that others can enjoy what you’ve written. Be sure to share your posts in Facebook, Twitter, and other social media!

Background: In honor of Words Matter Week, a holiday that is celebrated annually the first full week in March, the National Association of Independent Writers and Editors (NAIWE) is hosting a Blog Challenge with a specific daily topic Monday through Friday.

Each blogger that posts a response to each day’s challenge (a total of five posts) will be entered into a drawing for a $20 gift card to Amazon.com. The winner will be announced in the next issue of The Edge, NAIWE’s e-mail newsletter. (If you don’t receive it yet, you may subscribe at the NAIWE homepage). Remember to write the post on your own blog, adding a link to this post. Return to this page and add a comment on this post, with the title of your response and a link to your post.

“The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’”

Ronald Reagan

Remember the Words Matter Week Bonus! New members who join NAIWE during Words Matter Week will receive a special bonus: a copy of Silence, Language, & Society: A guide to style and meaning, grace and compassion by Robert Hartwell Fiske and a copy of NAIWE’s “How to Create Credibility as a Freelancer” booklet! It’s the perfect time to join the “professional association with career-building difference.”