The Room to Write

You have probably heard the term or witnessed “The Irish Goodbye” in action. People often associate that style of departure as a sudden disappearance of a person without a word. Just poof! Well, that’s not my form of The Irish Goodbye. I follow in my parents’ tradition of circling the room to say goodbye to, and chatting with, each person one by one. We kids would plead, “When are we leaving?!” Our parents would stall by responding, “Get the coats.” We kids knew that meant we were at least one solid hour away from actually putting the coats on and walking out the door. Over the past nine years, I’m pleased to say there are too many people in “the room” to say goodbye to each of you individually. We have such a wonderful group of writers and readers and creative minds in this region—that I’m sure I will be bumping into each of you for one reason or another in the weeks, months and years to come. We know each other now. The Room to Write acted as a gracious host and brought us all togeth...

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...

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...

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...