What is it?
The Writers Block is a co-working community designed for working writers by working writers. The ‘Block’ takes the amenities and freedom of an internet café (wifi, coffee, individual workstations, inspiring white noise), and adds the professional work environment and community feeling of a traditional office – not that any of us would actually choose to work at one of those places.
Where is it?
The Writers Block is located in a garden-level office at Sherman Gardens, an office building (and former church) located at 9th and Sherman, just south of downtown Denver. We chose this location for several reasons:
1) Because it's kind of fun asking each other if we’ll be at ‘church’ tomorrow.
2) Because parking is readily available, and ranges from free (three blocks away) to $4-a-day meters (right in front), to $40/month (down the street).
3) Because the place is surrounded by cool spots – all within walking distance -- for breakfast, break time and happy hour. Here, you might start your day meeting a fellow writer at Aviano Coffee Shop; break for lunch at Racines, the Spicy Pickle or BONES; celebrate a killer first draft with cocktails at Dazzle or Funky Buddha; and then cash your advance check for a nice dinner at Mizuna or Le Central.
What’s the space like?
The Writers Block offers individual semi-private workstations in a common room with 4-6 other writers. Because of the shared space, we enforce a code of respectful silence. However, for those times you just have to chat, we do offer a small chill-out room (we call it the Green Room), where you can gather to swap ideas and resources, grab a cup of coffee and heat lunch in the microwave. There is also a conference room right down the hall – and lots of bars within walking distance (see above). Not that writers drink or anything.
What amenities do you offer?
In addition to an individual workstation, you’ll have wifi internet access, a small fridge, microwave, nightly cleaning, access to a printer, and the ability to be inspired by the sound of other tapping keyboards.
What don’t you offer?
We don’t offer phone (hey, in the age of cell phones, who needs ‘em?) fax, copy machine or the soul-crushing loneliness you may have felt working alone at home.
Okay, I’m sold… what’s the bottom line?
We know most writers aren’t overflowing with cash (or maybe that’s just us), so we worked hard to create a place that could meet the average writer’s budget.
Membership fee: The Writers Block requires an annual membership fee of $60, which must be paid up front regardless of how much time you commit to. (This helps us cover equipment overhead, insurance, wifi, etc.)
Part-time: Access to a half-time workstation costs just $95/month, based on a year’s commitment. (Six-month commitments are also available, for $100/month.) The workspaces can be split, depending on the needs of tenants,* into morning or afternoon work slots, or into half-weekly schedules. In other words, you can rent a space either:
--A) Weekday mornings or afternoons; or,
--B) From Monday morning to Wednesday noon, or Wednesday noon to Friday evening.
*Because of the limited number of spaces, we’re asking all potential tenants to complete an application so that we can create a schedule and a community that works well for the most people.
Nights and weekends: If you work full-time at another job during the week, we’d like to offer our condolences – and a workstation rental for nights and weekends. Cost of the night/weekend package is just $75/month (year’s commitment); $80/month (six months).
Full-time: If you’d like to grab a workstation full-time, the cost is just $160/month for a year’s commitment, $168/month for six months. (We’ve looked, and there’s nothing that comes close to this in Denver!)
NOTE: Regardless of your level of commitment (full- or part-time, six or 12 months), we are asking tenants to pay for space up front with six months’ worth of post-dated checks. This is because we’re writers, which means we’re hugely incapable of handling much administration, and we’d rather bug you two times a year for rent rather than every month.
Who’s behind this crazy scheme?
The founders of The Writers Block are Shari Caudron (essayist and narrative journalist, found on this website), William Haywood Henderson (novelist), and Gary Schanbacher, (novelist and short story writer).
To apply:
If you’re interested in becoming a member of The Writers Block, please contact Shari Caudron to request an application. CURRENTLY THE WRITERS BLOCK IS FILLED TO CAPACITY! BUT CONTACT SHARI TO BE PUT ON A WAITING LIST.
Questions? Feel free to contact any of us:
Shari: shari@sharicaudron.com
Bill: haywood58@comcast.net
Gary: garysch1@comcast.net
