The Room to Write

Our Seniors and Veterans Programming year wraps up on Tuesday, May 21st with an Open Mic Session at the Wakefield Senior Center at 1:30pm and that is the last of what has been a fulfilling year for those who attended either the Wakefield Senior Center or the Stoneham Senior Center on any given Tuesday since programming began in September 2023.  We run our programming like an academic year with a break in the summer for our all-volunteer team of coordinators and facilitators, but we are already looking forward to the variety of programs we will be offering starting in the fall. There are too many things to include in this one blog post, but let's recap the last month or so.  April 9th: Guest speaker: Nancy Reily, owner of Lady with a Pen , talked about the art of calligraphy and design. In addition to teaching classes and giving lectures, Nancy ran an invitation and calligraphy shop in Wakefield for twenty years.  After her talk, participants had a chance to try their hand...

We were so pleased to see some early-birds at our most recent quarterly Writers and Illustrators Meet & Greet on Thursday, January 18th from 8am to 10am at Brothers Deli-Restaurant in Wakefield, MA. What a great way to start off the year and the day!  We love these casual gatherings that always have such a great mix of writers, artists, playwrights and musicians.  The Room to Write's entire Board of Directors was in attendance and Joy and Kathy, members of the Arts Collaborative of Wakefield , attended to share information and gather ideas about upcoming exhibits they are planning to hold at the local Albion Cultural Exchange building in Wakefield. We look forward to sharing information on their "Tell Me a Story" exhibit planned for April when details are available. The group got to know each other over a hot cup of coffee or tea and a delicious mix of freshly baked muffins, a mix of bagels and fresh fruit. A bit thank you to the owners and staff at Brothers Deli-R...

Wakefield Senior Center: October 3rd : Kick-off for a new session, "Writing Talk.” This month, a TRtW instructor will lead a chat about “What Writing Is,” a five-page chapter from Stephen King's book, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft. Also, if you enjoy this chapter and want to read the whole book, consider joining Whitelam Books on Thursday, October 26th at 7 pm for Writer’s Book Club. The group will be discussing King’s book this evening.  October 10th : Gather & Write session led by an instructor from TRtW. Come with your own ideas of what to write or be inspired by prompts provided by facilitators from The Room to Write.  You'll have time to write, as well as an opportunity to share your writing. October 17th : "Open Mic" session where each person will have about 3 minutes to share something they've written or read. October 24th : Gather & Write session led by an instructor from TRtW. October 31st : Monthly Critique Group where writers will read...

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!

 As part of The Room to Write's Senior and Veterans programming , we have writing days that are more casual and unstructured. We call those writing days: Gather & Write . It's a way to make time for writing during the week that is less structured. An instructor shows up and offers a writing prompt or two or whatever to the group--something to get the wheels turning and the pen writing. Being the only "poet" in the group has propelled me to utilize the time I am at the writing prompt helm to offer up something poetic. Not everybody in the group that gathers is necessarily interested in writing poetry--per se--but, really, poems are simply words that sometimes appear in a flowing sundress, sometimes in a polo shirt, and other times squeezed into a tuxedo and bowtie.  For Valentine's Day, I decided to give the group a glimpse of a well-dressed poem. What form stood out to me as appropriate for the special day? The Sonnet, of course. When you think Sonnet, you oft...

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...

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...