Inside PBS Blog

Jim Lehrerâ€â„¢s spot on your bookshelf may never overtake his place on the TV screen. But as the NewsHour host shares in a recent Washington Post Book World piece, he writes fiction every chance he gets, whenever and wherever inspiration strikes. "A life without writing," the author of 17 novels states, "is simply not an option."

Lehrerâ€â„¢s love of language has taken him to some strange places recently: A recent YouTube clip shows him interviewing a highly animated WordGirl about her adventures saving humanity from poor vocabulary.

There are lots of places online that can get you on the road towards a writer's life. As Andy Carvin mentioned in a recent Learning.Now blog post, some innovative teachers are getting their students to create collaborative works on âہ"microbloggingâ€Â site Twitter, with each student contributing one 140-character thought at a time. You can make your own collaborative story with friends, real or virtual, on Twittories.

If long-form is more your style, each November, National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo, encourages everyone with an Internet connection and some free time to complete a 50,000-word novel in just 30 days. There are forums for keeping track and providing moral support to fellow writers, and tips for revising your work and setting future goals.

Question of the day: Has the Internet become an outlet for your creative energyâ€â€or depleted it? Leave a message, even a short one, below.