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I Love to Write Day

Learning Adventure

Celebrate the joy of putting your own thoughts, stories, and unmistakable voice into words.

Curated by Laela

an illustrated style image of a child holding a yellow pencil on top of a lined journal surrounded by bright sheets of paper

Write Your Way!

📌 Quick Facts📅 November 15🇺🇸 Celebrated in the US ✏️ Created by writer John Riddle in 2002

❤️ Why We Celebrate

I Love to Write Day began in 2002 when Delaware writer John Riddle started a grassroots campaign encouraging people of all ages to spend a little time writing every November 15. His idea was wonderfully simple: write a poem, a letter, a story, or anything else that puts your thoughts into words. Today is a chance to experiment, play with words, and think about the kind of writer you are becoming.

💡 Did You Know?

More than 11,000 schools participated in the very first I Love to Write Day celebration!

✨ Adventure Highlights

✏️ Writer’s Voice & Journaling 📚 Author Style 🖋️ The History of Writing 🔤 Word Origins

Read

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Ralph Tells a Story

by Abby Hanlon

Sometimes the hardest part of writing is believing you have something worth saying. Ralph Tells a Story takes that familiar feeling and turns it into a funny, reassuring story about a boy who is certain he has absolutely nothing to write about.

It’s a wonderful reminder for young writers that stories don’t have to begin with enormous adventures. Sometimes your own memories, observations, ideas, and wonderfully ordinary experiences are exactly where your voice begins.

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Write

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What kind of writer would you like to become?Funny? Imaginative? Thoughtful? Adventurous? Mysterious?Describe the kind of writing you hope to create and what you’d love readers to notice about **your** unique voice.

Need ideas?

Think about a few authors you love. What makes their writing memorable to you… their humor, imagination, descriptions, characters, word choices, or the way they make you feel?

For another clue, take our Author Style Quiz to discover which author’s style shares a few qualities with yours. You don’t have to write like your result! Instead, notice what you admire about that author’s writing and think about how your own voice might be different.

Remember: Your writer’s voice isn’t something you have to choose. It’s something you discover as you keep writing.

Family Fun

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boy in purple shirt with journal, writing outside under a tree

A Writing Time Capsule

Start a family writing tradition!

Set aside a little time today for everyone to write side by side. There are no assignments and no required topics. Write a poem, journal entry, letter, tiny story, funny list, family memory, or whatever you feel like putting on paper.

Before you finish, add one sentence:

“Right now, I love writing about…”

Date everyone’s pages and tuck them into an envelope or small box. Seal your Writing Time Capsule and save it to open next November 15.

When I Love to Write Day comes around again, read your old pieces before writing something new. What has changed about your ideas, interests, handwriting, word choices, or voice?

💜 Resources We Love · Some links are affiliate links that support DUYW at no extra cost to you.

🌎 Adventure Trails

Every adventure has another path to follow. Choose a trail and see where your curiosity leads!

Literature Trail: Be a Style Detective

Every author has a recognizable way of using words. Compare E.B. White and Roald Dahl in the panel below and look for clues in their word choice, sentence rhythm, descriptions, and humor.

🦢 E.B. White

The Trumpet of the Swan

“The cygnets crept under their mother’s wings. Darkness settled on woods and fields and marsh. A loon called its wild night cry. As Louis relaxed and prepared for sleep, all his thoughts were of how lucky he was to inhabit such a beautiful earth…”

Look for: calm description, precise details, graceful sentences.

🍫 Roald Dahl

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

“Hot ice cream warms you up no end in freezing weather. I also make hot ice cubes for putting in hot drinks… ‘COWS THAT GIVE CHOCOLATE MILK,’ it said on the next door. ‘Ah, my pretty little cows!’ cried Mr. Wonka.”

Look for: impossible ideas, playful contradictions, unexpected details, and larger-than-life enthusiasm.

Wonder Challenge: Which difference between the two writers stands out most to you? Which style feels more like the way you would want to write?

History Trail: One Writer’s Big Idea

Delaware writer John Riddle launched I Love to Write Day in 2002 as a grassroots campaign encouraging people of all ages to write. More than 11,000 schools participated during its first year.

Wonder Challenge: Look up the term grassroots. How can one person’s idea grow into something thousands of people join?

Language Trail: Where Style Began

The writing meaning of style can be traced back to the Latin stilus, a pointed instrument used for writing, and a word that also came to describe a manner of writing or expression.

Wonder Challenge: Look up the word origins of stylus, pen, and pencil. Which has the most surprising history?

Would you rather...

I love to write day homeschool lesson plan

Print & Plan

Printable Lesson Snapshot

Keep today’s book pick, writing prompt, family activity, and discussion ideas together in one colorful overview.

View & Print This Adventure Perfect for homeschool or classroom planning.

😂 Share Your Spark!

Today’s conversation: If someone read your writing without seeing your name, what would you someday love for them to say? “I knew this was yours because your writing is always ______.” Funny? Thoughtful? Adventurous? Beautiful? Surprising? Imaginative? Something completely different?

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I Love to Write Day