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Topic: Writer's refuge space
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| Author | Message |
| kyliwagner | Posted – 10/26/2005 1:32:58 PM | show profile I recently read an article about writer's spaces in cities like New York and Los Angeles. One pays a monthly ''rent'' to get access to a desk, a lamp, and a locker in what amounts to an office for writers. I was wondering, has anyone tried one of these spaces? I can imaging that it helps in eliminating the distractions of writing at home, I'm just not sure if it's worth the money. Please share stories if you have any. Thank you. |
| bonmots | Posted – 10/26/2005 3:12:50 PM | show profile A friend of mine uses the Quill in Tribeca and and adores it. She gets a lot done there. I still use cafes. Need constant caffiene infusion -- still looking for the ideal West Village spot, as Doma is now overrun. Hope this helps! |
| limericks4all | Posted – 10/26/2005 3:34:15 PM | show profile I know people who have done this, and also many who write from home. Really, it's not a oe-size-fits all approach. If you are the type who has trouble writing from home, and feel you would put in 9-5 hours at one of these places, the extra productivity could easily pay for the rent and then some. |
| foodlit | Posted – 10/26/2005 5:03:05 PM | show profile I visited one in Boston, and it was a very nice place, but not for me. It was too quiet! No music or talking allowed. I actually prefer a Starbucks or other coffee shop type environment, and work better with either music, or lots of buzz and activity around me. Just depends on your work style. For some, it's a very productive thing. :) Pam |
| flipflap | Posted – 10/26/2005 5:43:41 PM | show profile i was a member of the mercantile library writers studio in nyc for quite awhile. since i was working on a book at the time, it helped enormously to get away from my living space, phone calls and other interruptions. i enjoyed being in a different partof the city (47th near mad.), going to the library's reading room for a break, and meeting other writers, who were mostly playwrights and screenwriters. because the hours were basically 9-to-5, i kept pretty regular hours and treated my work like a regular job. |
| zinny | Posted – 10/26/2005 11:31:49 PM | show profile My ideal is a foreign cafe--I like the energy and buzz of conversation around me, but if people are speaking a language I understand, I sometimes eavesdrop to procrastinate. |
| VillageGal | Posted – 10/27/2005 9:20:16 AM | show profile I know people who work at the Writers Room and wrote books there. Whether or not it's worth the money would depend on how often you used it. That place has been around long time and has a waiting list |
| kyliwagner | Posted – 10/27/2005 12:26:52 PM | show profile Thanks for all of the stories. I work full time (must pay the bills while working on the book) so I don't know that the hours that I have available would make it worthwhile. Good to know, however, that some people have enjoyed these spaces and found them to help productivity. |
| johnsonjohnson | Posted – 10/27/2005 1:38:55 PM | show profile I recently joined a writer's space in NYC, and I work full-time, so I'm doing a part-time membership of nights and weekends. It's not ideal, but I can't get any writing done at home and coffee shops are far too noisy for me. Why don't you try one for a month, and see how it works out for you? |
| skurczysyn | Posted – 10/27/2005 3:21:07 PM | show profile | email poster I can certainly recommend Paragraph, which was one of the places mentioned in the NYT article. They screen prospective members, which I think is smart. They have a nice set-up. The owners are lovely. And they're right across from Party City which has cheap kazoos. They're on 14th St. btw 5th/6th. Their website is www.paragraphny.com |
| imagine | Posted – 10/27/2005 3:56:21 PM | show profile | email poster writer's space I'm thinking of applying for membership to a room but I'd mostly go on weekends or during the evening, and I'm sure those times are very busy. Is it hard to get a desk? |
| sd-edit | Posted – 10/28/2005 2:57:24 AM | show profile Writer's refuge space I've been thinking of joining one of these writers' spaces, but from the photos on the websites I've checked out, like the Quill, many of them seem to have desks only in windowless rooms. That might help to eliminate distraction for some people, but it just makes me feel closed in--I need to be able to look out a window while I write. Do any of you know whether any of the writers' spaces have desks that are situated near a window? I just looked at the website for Paragraph, and it looks like they do have tables next to the windows in the kitchen. Can you work there, or is that area for conversation? Thanks for starting this thread, kyliwagner! |
| sean | Posted – 10/28/2005 7:19:10 AM | show profile My ideal place - Finland Those of you who are not perturbed by noise are immensely lucky! I am supersensitive to noise (apparently 5 percent of the population) and have been on a quest to find tomb-like silence for the last 6 years! Silence and solitude - virtually impossible to find nowadays in a world inhabited by 6.5 billion homo sapiens..I am still working on trying to migrate to northern Finland where I hear your closest neighbour is 10 km away. What a dream that would be! |
| flipflap | Posted – 10/28/2005 9:32:15 AM | show profile before and after my stint at the mercantile writers studio, i found solitude, silence & windows in a number of places. 1. friends who had 9-to-5 jobs let me ''rent'' space in their apt or loft while they were at work! obviously i couldnt go there when they had the day off, but pricewise it was great. 2. the best space nyc work space was my own room (no living allowed) in a huge rent-controlled apt. the woman was never there, she lived with her boyfriend in another apt. great view, too! 3. if you're really looking for peace & quiet, get out of the city for 2 weeks-month & take your ''vacation'' at a writers colony in the country such as millay in upstate ny or ucross in wyoming. there's many, many more. it's great if youre working on a book. |
| sean | Posted – 10/28/2005 10:16:19 AM | show profile i got out of stifling, noisy washington d.c. 8 weeks ago and relocated to spain. spain, it turns out, is not a quiet lover's haven either - not with their motos, car horns and a construction frenzy that has eaten up a third of its coastal line. my partner and i did end up renting a huge apartment con tres habitaciones for less than 600 euros...try doing that in new york and d.c where a shoebox costs 1500 dollars! at any rate, i still have my sights on finland. how bad can it be when a cottage by the lake and a well-heated sauna is all that is needed for happiness... |
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