Call for Blogs: The Dangling Modifier
Spring 2025: Taking our Writing Public
The Dangling Modifier invites submissions for our Spring 2025 Blog Series: Taking our Writing Public.
While reading aloud is a common practice in most writing tutorials, not all tutors may associate reading aloud as public writing. But as Kenneth Bruffee writes in the Fourth Edition of A Short Course in Writing, “Reading aloud is actually a form of publication, like getting your essay printed in a journal or magazine….What happens among writers when they read their work aloud is that, right from the start, they begin to get interested in each other and begin to trust each other. They become a community of writers engaged in constructive conversation about writing”(148-49). We’d love to forward Bruffee’s ideas by asking–what if more writers and writing tutors focused on sharing their work both within and beyond the classroom or tutorial? What happens to our writing when we know others will read it? How does sharing work with an audience change how you view your work as a writer? What does Bruffee really mean when he writes: “Reading aloud puts the ball into play”(149).
We are interested in reading your short essays, columns, blogs, videos, podcasts (among others!) that explore concepts and ideas related to public writing, publishing, sharing your work with others, collaboration, or simply writing in the public sphere. While most of our published pieces have a tutoring angle, we’re also interested more broadly in the writing practices and processes of peer writing tutors. To get you started, here are some potential themes and ideas:
- Reading aloud as public writing
- Tutoring in public communities
- Generative AI and its impact on public writing
- Personal experiences sharing your work (for better or for worse!)
- Experiences of publishing as an undergraduate writer
- Writing for, with, or about public communities
- Writing rituals — and public roles in your writing process
- Writing centers as public spaces
- Why writers need public spaces
As an additional note–The Dangling Modifier makes space for all writers to read their work aloud for publication as part of the process.
Typical length for print submissions is 750-1000 words. See ourdanglingmodifier.psu.edu
The Dangling Modifier is a national publication for peer tutors, by peer tutors–published by the peer writing tutor staff with The Writing Center @ Penn State Learning.
Elizabeth Parfitt
Teaching Professor, Department of English
Scholar in Residence for Writing and Communication, The Writing Center @ Penn State Learning
Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802
bethparfitt