Quick Reminder- Applications for the 2009-2010 Girls Write Now Program are due tomorrow, September 15, 2009. If you haven’t turned yours in already, go to the website now and apply!

And a good Saturday afternoon to you, too sunshine!

Seriously, though. I’m just getting back from a training session with this amazing organization that I’m going to be mentoring with this year called Girls Write Now (GWN) and I’m inspired to write.

Ok, now seriously, doesn’t that picture (taken from the website) make you want to read on? Don’t fight it, it’ll be so worth it.

Quick backstory- a couple of years ago, when I was kind of, how shall we say, a little annoyed with the direction my life was going in professionally, I really wanted to find some kind of volunteer work that would be meaningful and that would remind me of why I got into journalism in the first place. So what did I do? I googled it. I googled exactly what I was interested in doing (and what I would probably be the most help with) “mentoring + teen girls + writing nyc”  and up popped the website for GWN.

Girls Write Now is a non-profit organization here in the city that pair teen writers (mentees)  with professional women writers (mentors) who mentor them over the course of the school year (September- May). Teens meet with their mentors at least one a week to work on their writing and one Saturday a month, everyone involved in the program gets together for writing workshops that each focus on a different type of writing, like memoir, poetry, fiction, editing, playwriting, journalism and songwriting. I really like the emphasis on covering a lot of different types of writing, because being a writer is not just limited to having one specific “type” of career. GWN also holds readings several times a year where teens (and mentors) can present their work to a supportive audience. And at the end of the program, they each contribute a finished piece that gets published (!) in an anthology. That’s amazing. Basically, it’s the kind of program I wish had been around when I was in high school.

So the more I read about the program, the more I wanted to get involved. It seemed  like the perfect fit for me- a really intense, incredibly fun time, where I would not only get to help a young person but also get to learn from them, too, which would no doubt improve my own writing. In any case, when I found the program, the deadline for applications had already passed so I made a mental note to check back the following year. As most “mental notes” would have it, I remembered, but I had missed the deadline again. I know, sucks to me be. So imagine my surprise when I saw the GWN table at the Brooklyn Book Fair. I went over, mentioned my interest and the volunteer there gave me the contact information for the program director. I emailed her, submitted an application and when there was an opening for a mentor, she contacted me. I went in for an interview and almost had a mentee…until she dropped out of the program…foiled again! Still, I went to the public readings and tried to support the program as best I could and this year, I’m a mentor. Lesson learned? Be persistent. If you want something, go out and get it. And if you don’t at first, keep trying.

Nice story, but why does this interest you, you say? Because the applications for high school girls who want to be mentees has not passed yet. But it is coming up SOON- September 15, 2009- three days from now to be exact.  So, if you are interested in the program and you want to learn more or if you want to apply, do not hesitate, click on over to their website and check them out. Or, if you’re read enough about them already, you can check out this clip from when they were featured on NBC Nightly News-

They also have a youtube channel with clips of some of the girls reading their original pieces. So if you are even a little interested, you might want to check it out. Let me know what you think.

Check it out girls… write, right now