When I moved to Boston a year and a half ago, I left most of my support network and trusted writing community behind. For first few months I struggled to write anything at all, and then through a friend I found Toni Amato of Write Here Write Now. Toni invited me to the writing group he runs, where I met some great writers and found a safe space that fostered my writing in a way completely different than grad school.

In the group I produced new work, writing that was more raw, more emotionally truthful, and more beautiful than any I’d produced before. The group was a constant presence as I drafted and revised my novel. Toni met with me regularly to talk through my revisions, listen to me rant, and make me some great coffee that I perverted with copious amounts of milk and sugar. He pushed me to think bigger, to strive for the level of language I had before only managed to produce in spurts. He carefully edited my work. When I doubted myself, he fought for me and for the work I was trying to produce.

I have written from the margins all my life. I’ve always had to explain my work, clutter it with marginalia. In Toni I found someone who not only understood my characters, but also loved them like I did.

And he did all this for free.

Toni works on a pay-what-you-can basis, and when you’re working with queer and marginalized writers, this often means a lot of pro bono work. I gave what I could, but I can’t even begin to pay him what he deserves for the help he gave me and my writing.

If you can, please donate to Write Here Write Now. I will never forget the comfort and liberation of walking into that first writing workshop. Toni offered me a place to rest my weary soul, and he helped me make my book into something I never dreamed I had the talent to write. He does amazing and important work in the community. If you have the means to contribute, please do.