The Room to Write

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...

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...

The Journey of a Story went "on the road" to meet children's picture book author Valerie Bolling in Connecticut to discuss her journey to publication. Valerie explains the need for a Submission Package, shares the value of setting incremental goals, and the perspective that sometimes poor cell service is good for the creative process. Her writing journey begins with love and is grounded in community, giving way to her debut picture book Let's Dance , her recently released Together We Ride and more planned publications to come. Learn more about Valerie and her books Let's Dance , Together We Ride , and all the wonderful projects she's working on by clicking here ! Watch her video interview below:) Thank you so much to Wakefield Community Access Studios for making The Journey of a Story series possible and for Valerie Bolling for trying something new with us by conducting her interview remotely.

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...

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...

Support New England authors and illustrators by learning who they are and what the titles of their books are. Watch and Share this Show & Tell video introducing you to twenty different authors and illustrators who published books during three very challenging years: 2020, 2021 or 2022. Want to find out more about each author or illustrator? Want to purchase their books? Click HERE! Congratulations to all the published authors and illustrators! Thanks to Monica Acker, Sarah S. Brannen, Phaea Crede, Kerry Crisley, Carol Gordon Ekster, Sara B. Fraser, Jannie Ho, George Jreije, Heather Kamins, Leigh Lewis, Linda Malcolm, David McCoubrey, Tim O'Leary, Ammi-Joan Paquette, Kari Percival, J. C. Phillipps, Lisa Stringfellow, Ralph Tufo, Joy Nelkin Wieder, and Kip Wilson for participating in this project and for ushering your books into a world the needs them. Special Thanks to Ryan Boyd and Amy Couture at  Wakefield  Community Access Television Studios ...