Today, thousands of people are telling the world why they write. What's your reason?
Today, Oct. 20, is the National Day on Writing.
Never heard of it? I hadn't either. But now that I know, I'm really, really into it.
GIF from "Glee."
The tradition was started in 2011 by the New York Times and organizations like National Council of Teachers of English, the National Writing Project, and the Teaching Channel. And every year, thousands of people take to Twitter and Facebook using the hashtag #WhyIWrite to share — you guessed it — all of the reasons they put pen to paper (or, you know, fingers to keyboard) and write.
This year, they wanted people to expand their thinking beyond just essays, articles, and books. They encourage you to define writing broadly and think of everything: "song lyrics, film scripts, poems, diary entries, blog comments, infographics, social media posts, gaming, storyboards, lab reports, videos, slideshows, podcasts or lines of code."
And sure, "famous writers" in years past have had some great reasons to write:
But the purpose of the day is to remember that anyone can find joy in the art of writing.
Here are just a few of the reasons that folks have shared today.
To achieve immortality:
To challenge themselves and break outside of boxes:
To tell stories that need to be heard:
To make your presence known:
Because, sometimes, it's all you can do:
And, lest you think everyone takes writing "Very Seriously," here's one of my personal favorites:
As for me, I write because, frankly, it took a long time for me to realize that I could.
As a kid, I was an avid reader. I was one of those kids who would rather read than play, eat, or, sometimes, sleep. Books and magazines were magical, and their creators, in my mind, had special powers. Writing was special and complicated and not something I ever felt "talented" enough to do. But when I was in my early 20s, a mentor told me something that I'll never forget:
"Your thoughts and words are just as worthy of being recorded as anyone else's."
Mind blown. GIF from "How I Met Your Mother."
That was my a-ha moment in which I realized that writing wasn't a skill reserved for an elite group of studied professionals. Writing was a tool that I could use in any way that I wanted to because my thoughts and words have value. Through writing, my words can encourage someone else, and they can make a difference to someone, somewhere ... or even just to me. From thank you cards to poems to blog posts to columns, and yes, now, even my very first book, which I am working on right now, I have never stopped writing.
I hope all of you have experienced the joy and the power of writing. And if you have, hop on Twitter, use the #WhyIWrite hashtag, and share your reason with the world.
A Generation Jones teenager poses in her room.Image via Wikmedia Commons
An office kitchen.via 
An angry man eating spaghetti.via 
Gif of baby being baptized
Woman gives toddler a bath Canva
An Irish woman went to the doctor for a routine eye exam. She left with bright neon green eyes.
It's not easy seeing green.
Did she get superpowers?
Going to the eye doctor can be a hassle and a pain. It's not just the routine issues and inconveniences that come along when making a doctor appointment, but sometimes the various devices being used to check your eyes' health feel invasive and uncomfortable. But at least at the end of the appointment, most of us don't look like we're turning into The Incredible Hulk. That wasn't the case for one Irish woman.
Photographer Margerita B. Wargola was just going in for a routine eye exam at the hospital but ended up leaving with her eyes a shocking, bright neon green.
At the doctor's office, the nurse practitioner was prepping Wargola for a test with a machine that Wargola had experienced before. Before the test started, Wargola presumed the nurse had dropped some saline into her eyes, as they were feeling dry. After she blinked, everything went yellow.
Wargola and the nurse initially panicked. Neither knew what was going on as Wargola suddenly had yellow vision and radioactive-looking green eyes. After the initial shock, both realized the issue: the nurse forgot to ask Wargola to remove her contact lenses before putting contrast drops in her eyes for the exam. Wargola and the nurse quickly removed the lenses from her eyes and washed them thoroughly with saline. Fortunately, Wargola's eyes were unharmed. Unfortunately, her contacts were permanently stained and she didn't bring a spare pair.
- YouTube youtube.com
Since she has poor vision, Wargola was forced to drive herself home after the eye exam wearing the neon-green contact lenses that make her look like a member of the Green Lantern Corps. She couldn't help but laugh at her predicament and recorded a video explaining it all on social media. Since then, her video has sparked a couple Reddit threads and collected a bunch of comments on Instagram:
“But the REAL question is: do you now have X-Ray vision?”
“You can just say you're a superhero.”
“I would make a few stops on the way home just to freak some people out!”
“I would have lived it up! Grab a coffee, do grocery shopping, walk around a shopping center.”
“This one would pair well with that girl who ate something with turmeric with her invisalign on and walked around Paris smiling at people with seemingly BRIGHT YELLOW TEETH.”
“I would save those for fancy special occasions! WOW!”
“Every time I'd stop I'd turn slowly and stare at the person in the car next to me.”
“Keep them. Tell people what to do. They’ll do your bidding.”
In a follow-up Instagram video, Wargola showed her followers that she was safe at home with normal eyes, showing that the damaged contact lenses were so stained that they turned the saline solution in her contacts case into a bright Gatorade yellow. She wasn't mad at the nurse and, in fact, plans on keeping the lenses to wear on St. Patrick's Day or some other special occasion.
While no harm was done and a good laugh was had, it's still best for doctors, nurses, and patients alike to double-check and ask or tell if contact lenses are being worn before each eye test. If not, there might be more than ultra-green eyes to worry about.