Yesterday, Rita DiCarne responded to my slice that she’d love to know more about the adult writing workshops I’ve been facilitating, so I decided this would be my prompt for the day.
I also realized that none of this would have happened without several endings.
Each Friday night for the past seven weeks, nine of us gather as Westoboro Books closes its doors and the last few customers trickle out onto the mainstreet. We move counters stacked with books, bring out folding tables, cover them with gray table cloths, set up water and markers and sticky notes while I set up a screen to project the few slides which guide our time together.
I always open the workshop experience with some time to reflect and share. Last Friday was the final workshop in a 7 session series.
For an hour and a half, we share our reading lives, our writing for the week, and work gently on giving feedback, asking questions, and writing together. Sometimes I share lessons on craft or advice from published authors.
This began because the bookstore owner needed to flee Israel to protect her family. She opened an independent bookstore wanting to create a sense of community where patrons can feel comfortable and creative in the space.
This writing workshop began after I retired from teaching to care for ailing family members. Two significant changes created something new: an immigration and a retirement – safety and care coalescing at a bookstore built to bring the community together. One series has ended and another begins next week, and I am finding my way in retirement.
is_reflecting 
I notice that you start with two endings: first, the ending of yesterday’s post (the comment) and then the closing of the bookstore – which, of course, is the beginning of the workshop. I enjoy this glimpse into what you do with the group, and I also admire the way you have framed endings as beginnings. Simple, but you make it concrete and, as a result, that much more real.
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Oh, Melanie, what a lovely post. I’m so glad Rita asked you about the workshops you’ve been facilitating. I’m intrigued by the iceberg theory. I’m going to think about that some more, and see if I can try it. I feel I need to do more research though, but I thank you for putting the bug in my ear. The bookstore sounds like a beautiful place for your community.
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