The Room to Write

 Join us on for our upcoming quarterly Meet & Greet at the  Writers' Collaborative Learning Center! Click here for more information:)

Let's put our toes together!:) The Room to Write invites those in the north of Boston region to join us Tuesday, July 30 th from 5:30pm to 7:30pm for our quarterly Writers and Illustrators Meet & Greet taking place in the Reading Public Library’s conference room. Adult writers and artists of all genres and levels are welcome to stop in for a free, fun and casual meetup. Are you published? Bring your book or portfolio to share and celebrate with others. Not published? Share the focus or challenge of a work-in-progress. Let us know about an upcoming theatre production you have a hand in or a magazine your article or poem appeared in. Receive and offer encouragement. It can be invigorating to simply talk with other creative minds about writing, painting, songwriting, etc and to learn about how others are stretching their creativity. Attendees will learn about the upcoming artist/writer collaboration being planned for the fall and how you can participate while enjoying a cup of ...

It's summer--so we're taking it easy here at The Room to Write, but even during our down time a few things manage to get done.  One much-anticipated website restoration milestone is the return of our podcast page where those who would like to tune into our Journey of a Story author interview series with only their ears can now find most of our 30+ interviews on three podcast platforms: Apple Podcasts , Google Podcasts , & Spotify .  If you would like to give them a listen and learn all about the writing, publication and book making process click here for our podcast page and take your pick of platforms.  Betsy Ellor A great big thanks to our wonderfully talented and series collaborators at Wakefield Community Access Television studios along with the IT wizardry of George Getty who helped us get everything up onto podcast platforms and integrated onto our website. The three most recent interviews, which were conducted in the May/June timeframe coincidentally all inv...

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...

Never underestimate the importance of building your creative community. Even though we often shove social situations aside because they are too uncomfortable or they don't seem productive, they can be the gifts that keep giving well into the future.  A creative community is even more important because it can be lonely creating on our own and so often ideas get better when they bounce around a little.  NESCBWI's Spring Conference returned in-person this year and it was so great to be tangibly reminded of the creative communities all around us if we choose to engage with them. So, find one or two or four or five and build your creative community one conversation at a time.  Big thanks to Kris Asselin and Jim Hill for going above and beyond in the volunteer department to bring writers and illustrators back together to celebrate the joy of creating books for kids!

We are waist deep into our Senior and Veterans Writing Workshop series taking place at the Wakefield Senior Center and we are happy to say that fifteen participants showed up for that first introductory session and then returned even after being warned that poetry would be on the menu for the second session. Colleen Getty facilitated the Portrait Poetry workshop and we hear from a reliable source that she is very fond of the poetic form. She actually thinks it's fun and at the very least cathartic .  Participants were walked through a simple brainstorming process and then invited to put words down on paper. It was that simple. Getting what is in your head or heart down on paper where you can shape it in a tangible way using words. Sometimes you really have to hunt for the right word. Throw one out, pick another one up or pull something away so that a word that really works is allowed to shine and make a point. That's poetry. It's the whiskey of the writing world, if you w...

 

Anytime you can try to block all else out and focus on your writing, that's a good thing. If you can do it with other writers--that's even better! One way to try to surround yourself with other writers and creative minds is to join various groups and participate in creative events or opportunities. SCBWI (Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) is one of those groups that people don't always hear about and then don't know how they didn't know about it after they do. Often times you will need to leave the confines of your home, go out into awkward situations where you don't know people, do your best to be friendly, ask questions and share a bit of yourself. Sometimes you're simply networking, and other times you're actually making friends or colleagues that will be a consistent presence on your journey.  This past weekend I had the good fortune to participate in a Writers' Retreat organized by the wonderful Shawn Anderson , a volunt...

Sometimes it's simply a case of being surrounded by creative people and trying to come up with a way to collaborate in order to use their various super powers to make the group, as a whole, stronger. It's fun when we connect with other creative minds. And so that's how last week's mini-photo-shoot-fundraiser for The Room to Write came to be. TRtW is a smally but mighty, local non-profit. Together with two more mighty, local businesses: Ally Houghton Photography and Whitelam Books --the plan for a fun photo shoot was hatched. Writers and artists need head shots (a nice, professional photograph of themselves) and yet writers and artists tend to be a bit humble and shy, which is often their biggest barrier to actually getting one done. Often a writer or artist wants to be seen through the art they create--to remain off-camera. The other two barriers keeping local writers and artists from getting a professional photo of themselves taken are not knowing where to find a phot...

Need a professional headshot?  Headshots. You've heard about them--you've seen them, but how does one go about finding a photographer to take one and how much?! Maybe you got a headshot ten years ago and you'd like an updated photo, or you'd like a more serious photo, or a sillier photo . . .  Ally Houghton Photography is supporting TRtW by donating time and talent to provide professional, affordable headshots for local writers and artists and all the proceeds go toward supporting TRtW's writing programs.  Click here to sign up for a 10-minute shoot slot between 6pm - 8pm on May 12, 2022. Every writer and artist should have a high-quality, digital head shot to add to a website, social media page, blog or book cover. Special thanks to Whitelam Books for providing our "studio" space. What better backdrop for your photo: a bookstore. If weather permits, you can pick a spot outside using the nearby park as your backdrop or the brick wall of the building, etc. ...