I am not a teacher; I’m not even a college graduate. I’m not currently a student. I’m a middle-aged woman whose children are grown with families of their own. So you may wonder what impact the National Writing Project has had on me.

In the summer of 2004, my husband, Mike, attended a Summer Institute sponsored by NWP, held at University of Central Arkansas in Conway, chapter name Great Bear Writing Project.  It made a huge change in his life, both in the way he approached teaching and in his personal writing life.  He worked as a coach in the Summer Institute in 2005, and has since become a co-director and worked in every SI since 2005.

In March, 2011, the Rural Sites Network was held in Little Rock, Arkansas, hosted by the Great Bear chapter.  Mike was the chairperson for this event.

What does all of that have to do with me? I have always been an avid, bordering on voracious, reader.  For years, my husband has encouraged me to try my hand at writing.  I’ve written short pieces for my dad’s retirement party, both my daughters’ graduations, the birth of my first grandchild, but I never believed I could write anything that consisted of more than a couple of pages.

For years, an idea for a story has rolled around in my brain, but it was minimal at best—easily described in a couple of sentences. In January 2010, Mike began a campaign to champion my idea into a story. I finally agreed to try and “write” a story based on my idea, even though I could not get a grasp on how to begin.  We discussed how to flesh out the initial idea and what shape I wanted it to take, but I told Mike starting it was beyond me and I needed him to get the story going.

He did and, suddenly, I was off and running.  Some days I spent six hours typing on the computer, my fingers attempting to keep up with the actions of my characters.  Mike and I started the novel in April 2010 and finished the first draft in September 2010.  I could not believe it.  300 pages of story, the majority of it out of my brain!

I don’t know that more than five people will ever read this novel (I happen to think it’s fabulous), but it is stunning to me that I have actually written something of that length, and taken it through several revisions. I would never have been able to do that without Mike’s encouragement, and he will tell you that what he has learned through his NWP experience enabled him to provide the type of inspiration I needed to both believe in and achieve this goal.

But here’s the kicker. Writing a 300 page novel, whether anyone reads it or not, gave me a new confidence in myself, which is incredible at this point in my life. I started a completely new job last year, one that scared me a bit. I had doubts about my fifty-three-year-old brain being able to pick up the new computer skills I would need for my new job in a fledgling small business. But the confidence I gained from writing in a way I had NEVER believed I could before has translated into confidence in my new employment, and I’m certain my new boss would tell you the work I do is essential to the success of his business. Our office employs only six people, but in the current economy, any new business which succeeds is making difference to a community.

So while the NWP is aimed at teachers, the ripple effect is so far-reaching that it is myopic to measure its success simply in those terms. Losing such a program has repercussions that may not have yet been considered.