The Room to Write

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!

The Room to Write's Founder & Director, Colleen Getty, recently accepted a donation from the Wakefield Co-operative Bank raised through their staff Jeans Day! What a great way to end the month of March as we look forward to the spring season. We are so grateful for financial support from the communities we serve as they help us fulfill our mission to connect and support writers of all ages, abilities and means by providing the physical space and structured support individuals need in order to express themselves more effectively for academic, professional and creative purposes. Pictured with Colleen are Mohammed Bezzat, VP, Business Development Officer and Rosa Bertolone, AVP, Main Office Branch Manager Wakefield Co-operative Bank.

 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...

In addition to those who were participating in the kick-off of a new Writers' Critique Group at the Wakefield Senior Center, representatives from The Room to Write , The Savings Bank and the Wakefield Senior Center gathered to celebrate The Savings Bank's funding support for The Room to Write's 2023 Senior & Veterans Programming.  The writing programs are approachable for those hesitant to write, yet fulfilling for those who already write but would like to grow in their writing experience. Workshops include the opportunity to get thoughts, memories, stories, history and personal experiences on paper with an invitation to share when comfortable. Participants are guided according to individual needs and goals. Present in the photo are Linda Malcolm, TRtW Coordinator of Senior & Veterans Programming; Kathleen Shine Cain, TRtW Instructor; Bob DiBella, TSB President & CEO; Emily Seward, TRtW Board of Directors; Colleen Getty, TRtW Founder, Director & Instructor...

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...

On November 16th the Wakefield Senior Center was brimming with enthusiasm and conversation between two generations that don't always have an opportunity to connect and get to know each other in impactful ways. After several years on hiatus, Seniors to Seniors had made a welcome comeback! “Seniors to Seniors” is a cross-generational event that brings high school seniors and older adults in our community together to get to know each other.  The twenty adults and students who participated in the event had an opportunity to get to know each other over lunch. Each adult got to share some of their lifetime's supply of stories during an interview with the Wakefield High School student senior they were paired up with.   The event was so well received by both the adults and the students involved. Aside from the need to spread tables further apart in the future to make it easier to hear, the feedback was nothing but positivity. Adult participants really enjoyed the opportunity to ...

Wow--hard to believe it's been almost a whole week since the Local Author Fair took place at Wakefield's Lucius Beebe Memorial Library . This has been a very busy week for The Room to Write , but we want to be sure to celebrate having been asked to partner with the library and Whitelam Books for such a wonderful event that brings authors living among us out of the woodwork and into everybody's favorite place: THE LIBRARY! Karen Stern, Wakefield Library's  Head of Reference & Information Services, decided it was about time to give local authors a central place where they would be able to sell and sign their books while connecting with the readers that are so important to them. She asked for our help and we asked for Liz Whitelam's help and it swiftly became a great collaborative event. With a total of 16 authors (four of which doubled as illustrators as well), the library was a-buzz (wink, wink--bees are kind of a theme of the library's:) with local inspira...