A NoPo Writing Annex

We're in the final stages of making a deal for our first location—the writers house annex in St. Johns. If all goes well, we will have a gorgeous, dedicated place for writing groups to meet just off of N. Lombard. No longer will groups have to do the coffeehouse, vagabond, peripatetic city trek in search of a spacious nook.

I’m reluctant to share more until the lease is signed. But things are looking superb. We’ll have a living room area to comfortably seat up to 12 or so and a beautiful, Zen office environment fully loaded for weekly, monthly, or even yearly rental. It will also be a great spot for readings and garden parties.

More soon. In the meantime, the search for the perfect writers’ room downtown continues.

Thanks to a Literary Rockstar

Portland's literary community is among the most creative and accessible in the galaxy. We're chatting up folks to help launch the writers' room, to advance the conversation, to provide fiercely informative and entertaining resources... and start an A-list party that we can attend in our flip-flops.

So it's with great pleasure that we've received a preemptive nod from one of our benevolent, artistic superheroes among local writers. Ah, the momentum builds. Please stay tuned for the unveiling.

it's official

today we became bona fide. numerous brainstorm sessions, several legal conversations and the first offical expense with three digits later, the biz side has landed. we are: the writers house llc

happy birthday writers house.

we're eight days into this project, averaging roughly four new hits a day on the surveys and--after the initial friends and family responses--about 10 new, interested people a day via email. that's good news, spreading word-of-mouth style. more to come, including some launch party news for later in the fall.

writershouse.net is coming

We're in the process of developing a new Web experience with free resources for local writers. We'll do the initial launch for the Wordstock Festival. Stay tuned for more Web info. And please drop me a note if you'd like to be included on the beta test site list.

The Feedback Machine

Wow, the one week mark is approaching since this somewhat obscure blog was posted. We've learned that basically the writers are legion who want a dedicated, quiet, creative space connected to the literary community here in PDX. The emails and comments continue to gain momentum in my inbox. Please keep them coming. And please use those little surveys.

Many of you have noted that the survey function is often not working. Sorry about that. Please refresh, try again. It's a new, free tool on Blogger and I think they're still working out some kinks.

Meanwhile, the marketing research continues. We're compiling a report on the 10 hottest Writers Rooms across the country and trying to interview the minds behind scenes in each location for feedback and support.

Writer Room Tour

I started communicating with folks in writer rooms around the country. Soon I'll take the national tour to interview the owners and operators. I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, here's a great article from The NY Times on the popularity and success of rooms in New York.

Feedback so far

Here's the latest in a series of thanks--to everyone for the deluge of emails and awesome input. Here's what we've learned in the last 12 hours.

• Several folks asked: "What the hell does 'office' mean?" Wow, that's a good one. Please take a look at our new survey and help us figure it out.

• Souk and CubeSpace here in Portland are renting office spaces. I've heard great things about them and I can't wait to meet folks in both places. But I think these are different from a writers' room. Writers need an awesome creative space, that old Victorian house style, with books to the ceiling, people reading on couches, and literary rock stars sipping java over their dog eared manuscripts.
  
  
• Location was high on the comment list. People might be interested depending on the location. We're investigating places. It will be something close to downtown, in a funky nook of Belmont, Hawthorn, N. Mississippi... with parking and public transportation nearby.