HEY JANE, FRANK! HERE’S AN IDEA…
October 11th, 2005
How about a nominal-fee Writer’s Colony in some of that vacant office space? Tim Russo suggested something similar a couple of months ago to bloggers and it was favorably discussed. New York has a tradition of such spaces. And they’re so popular that one has a two-and-a-half-year waiting list. From the Sunday New York Times:
Hominess is part of the appeal at Paragraph; writers, after all, notoriously crave nurturing. But those who use this space have a practical reason to show up as well: to overcome the temptation to procrastinate, and to get down to the hard work of writing.
When you write at home, there’s a lot of distraction, Ms. Parisi said. You want to go clean out the fridge, or tweeze your eyebrows. But when you go to a space to write, that’s what you do.
Paragraph opened Sept. 12 in a three-story building on West 14th Street near Union Square…
Writers (that includes bloggers, of course) could pay a nominal fee. If writer’s are paying $100/month in Manhattan, then $20 or $25/month in Cleveland would make sense. Put them in vacant office space and give them surplus office furniture from the City.
The space would need wifi, but not much else. I also like the idea of mixing the space with artists. What might Buzz Gallery have been like if there had been a dozen or so writers in there banging away at their keyboards while buyers absorbed the art?
Just an idea.
I thought the same thing when I read that over the weekend. I happen to like the folks at PWLGC. Don’t know their inclination toward such an idea, though.
Shalom Jill,
When the PWLGC center opened my first thoughts were that it would be exactly that kind of space. Alas, it is not. If it were, I’d be a member. I don’t crave classes; I crave community.
B’shalom,
Jeff
Jeff…this is a great idea. I know I’d willingly shell out that kind of money for a writer’s nook. I wish Jane or Frank would consider it.
Shalom Chris,
If George, Bill and Tim get them to sit down for a Meet The Blogger Debate, I’ll suggest that they raise the issue.
B’shalom,
Jeff
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