The Room to Write

A Note From  The Room to Write's Coordinator of Senior & Veteran Programming: Linda Malcolm "I have thought about this a lot and wanted to let you know that I’ve decided to step down at the end of this program year (this May) as Coordinator of Senior & Veteran programming.   "I can feel a change in seasons. My parents are aging, and now, with both of our sons in college, I will be going back to Iowa to see my parents more often. Plus, there’s also the fact that my husband and I are enjoying the freedom of traveling!   "To watch so many of you find your writing voice or expand on it in our senior & veteran workshops has been a privilege. Much thanks to the dedicated volunteers who have run the workshops for these three years. The energy from both parties is magical! "Keep writing and sharing!"  -- Linda Malcolm *You can continue to keep up with Linda Malcolm and her writing at lindamalcolm.com  :) Thank you, Linda! You are creative magic and hum...

So, what is it that The Room to Write preaches? Write. When in doubt: Write. When you have a moment: Write. If you want change: Write. Don't say you don't know how or you're no good at it or you don't know what to: Write. When you want to express yourself creatively, think comprehensively, share knowledge, create healthy dialogue, connect with others: Write. As Founder and Director of The Room to Write, I have found myself pushing my own personal and professional writing projects to the back of the ever-growing list of "things to do." Finding that work/life balance is difficult for all of us. Making time for yourself when you have a family is a challenge. And saying, "No" doesn't always come easily. The list of responsibilities grows while the number of hours in a day remain the same. Still just the 24. So, we must sit and focus. Decide what we want 2024 to look like for each of us. I have my own website for my own writing and I'd like to sha...

There's something about spring and, in particular, the month of May that makes everybody buzz about seeking new ways to grow, not only in the garden but in their spiritual life, family life, professional life, and--hopefully--their creative life.  Sometimes our creative lives take a back seat to all the other lives we maintain. If you're hoping to grow in your creative life, a wonderful and free resource is available to you thanks to a collaboration and sponsorship from Wakefield Community Access Television (WCAT) studios titled The Journey of a Story interview series.  No matter what genre you write in and regardless of the age your target audience is, some things remain constant in writing and we have uncovered some really helpful insights that can save you a lot of time and frustration when it comes to the publication process. In The Room to Write's interview series , The Journey of a Story , we focus on the writing and publication process rather than the content of e...

Since a picture says a thousand words, I'm going to let the photos from this past year do most of the talking for this blog--which I am just getting to the "presses" by the skin of my teeth. The fact that I am writing this entry on the very last day of the very last month of this year sums up how this year felt: FAST! Every month swept in with plenty to do and plan to do during the next month, which usually had arrived already. It's hard to believe that The Room to Write had only just emerged out of a pandemic-encouraged-self-imposed 1-year sabbatical on September 1st of 2021. Since then, we have covered a lot of ground and more than made up for lost time.  We brought the wonderful and talented Linda Malcolm onboard to focus on our efforts to support seniors and veterans in the north of Boston community. That focus resulted in the building of some great relationships and programs from as nearby as Wakefield's Senior Center to as far away as Hamilton's Patton H...

It's always a pleasure to step into the WCAT (Wakefield Community Access Television) Studios tucked behind the high school where visitors are surprised to see such a professional and impressive space dedicated to film and audio media.   During my most recent visit to the studios I interviewed local writer, illustrator and animator Sarah Lynne Reul .  Sarah is one of only a few illustrators I have interviewed in the space and so I was eager to learn more about how she creates the characters readers see in her many published books for children, including:  The Breaking News, Allie All Along, Nerp!, Farm the Farm, Pet the Pets and her Fall 2022 release of Bubbie & Rivka's Best Challah Ever (So Far!) . We talked about how all of us often start out liking to draw as children, but how as we get older we draw less and less until we're convinced we don't like to draw or that we can't draw well. Sarah's offers viewers inspiring advice about how much practice plays a...

The Room to Write 's website has a new look. As with a new hair cut or an updated wardrobe--it may take a while for all of us to get used to it. But, this decision was easy to make because we had no choice. Ha! It's always good to change things up a bit and since it's been five years, it was time. Much of the content remains the same (most likely) but is formatted differently. Some of the buttons are not working properly yet, but we are working on those. And, since we have recently received new subscribers to our newsletter and generous donations from supporters like YOU we are grateful to know that you have been patient, still managing to find a way to get through to us.  We appreciate your patience! In the coming months we will iron out the webpages. One area in particular that did not transition well was the Events category. In order to improve mobile viewing, content and photos were shoved into boxes and columns that don't always suit them, so we will be shifting th...

As the world continues to (hopefully) transition from pandemic to post-pandemic, many of us are shifting and changing in so many ways, too. The Room to Write is excited to be putting the building blocks in place this fall and winter so that in the spring of 2022 we can finally start to get back to digging our heels in and fulfilling our mission to bring all of you writers of every age, ability and means together and to support your writing efforts.  It's amazing how much goes on behind the scenes of any business or nonprofit organization, but a sign of our modern times is the need to keep up with the ever-evolving technology that enables us to communicate effectively. Being a small non-profit, these tasks are done in-house on a volunteer basis and so things may move forward slowly. But--slow and steady wins the race.  This month we hope to finally make the leap from "old" website (this current one I am posting on) to "new" website. This is a transition we must m...