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Introducing Ask Torontoist
Yorkville is renowned for its high proportion of fancy ladies with small dogs inside of expensive handbags and men in designer pinstripe suits driving oversized vehicles down narrow streets. Although you may not visit frou-frouland frequently, the new Toronto Writers' Centre (TWC) at 101 Yorkville Ave. could make a trek to the area worthwhile. Ex-lawyer and novelist Mitch Kowalski is the brains behind Canada’s first writing centre, which he modeled after similar writing centres in New York City.
Opening today, TWC offers a 2,600 square foot space for writers which is divided into lounge, kitchen, and quiet areas. The space will be open daily from 7am until 11pm with hopes of establishing a place for creativity, focus, and literary inspiration. If you’re willing to pay an initiation fee of $107 and $175 plus GST per month (and commit to a six-month term), you could be one of the 175 writers to have access to the space. Offering a trial membership for commitment-o-phobes would be an ideal scenario but, alas, this is not the case. The cost is cheaper than renting an office space and more expensive than visiting your local library or coffee shop. Kowalski is attempting to create a close-knit community of writers and says, “The romantic idea of a writer in a coffee shop is just crap. You need space to transcend, and go into your own world.” We, on the other hand, believe that coffee shops are the epitome of transcendental space.
TWC is also offering readings and workshops which are free for members and are available to the public for a small fee.
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Cool! However, I'm with you on the coffeeshop thing.
I'm also wondering how many actual Torontonian writers can afford $175/month on top of their living-space rent. At $2207 for the first year, that's more than an entry level TAC grant (which are available only every other year) or a standard Canadian-style publishing advance.
Perhaps it will cater more to Yorkvilleians who Want To Write?
Must find out more.
There are people out there who have earned and saved money and now want to try different things on their own.
They are called "adults".
Well Gah, if you've saved some money and want to try this with it, then great. Now you can. May you earn enough from writing to maintain this new thing long-term. That would be the optimal situation for all writers.
Like the concept, think the execution stinks.
$175 a month?! I might as well take my laptop to the gym to write. It would be cheaper.
Or maybe the public library. Yeah, that's the ticket.
Anyone suburbanites interested in forming a Not-The-Centre-Of-The-Universe-Writer's-Centre drop me a line. Maybe we can pool our nickels and dimes and rent some warehouse sapce.
Hey SooGuy, I like your style. I can't access your email, but you can reach me at my address on the "staff" page of this web site to continue this discussion.
hello Gah,
an "adult" is defined as someone who has earned and saved money? hmmmm......
Wow! I really didn't expect such a debate on my concept.
I admit that TWC is not for everyone.
It is for those who are willing to spend $6.00 per day on their craft. Members of TWC are passionate about writing and are willing to make a commitment to it.
The cost is tax deductible from earnings from writing which means that it is actually less than $6.00 per day. Throw in long hours (7 am to 11 pm), free coffee, free printing, free spring water, free readings and free internet and this is definitely good value.
However, if a writer does not place any value on having a clean, bright, comfortable, quiet, distraction-free workspace as well as an instant community of writers to get to know, then TWC is not for him or her.
In terms of location, obviously there is no location that will work for every writer in the GTA. So, I picked the most central location which is the easiest to access from all parts of Toronto - that is the intersection of the subway lines, which just happens to be Yorkville.
The most consistent comment I have recieved to date from our writers is that they are much more productive at TWC than anywhere else. Which means their product is better and they can create more product - thereby making more money for themselves, to more than cover $6.00 per day.
A blogger commented that we should offer a free trial period. I'm not exactly sure what there is to try out in order to make a decision. As writer, you will already know if you work better in a distraction-free environment or not. Certainly if you can work in the uncomfortable chairs and tables of a cafe with patrons talking and yelling above the canned muzak, you can work in TWC.
Anyone is welcome to take a tour, sit in the chairs, turn on the lights, etc. If you rent an apartment, buy a house or lease office space, you are not given a trial period to see if you enjoy living or working in the space.
I encourage and applaud those of you who wish to start your own centres. However, even warehouse space will be much more expensive than TWC. Remember that all landlords will require you to sign long term leases (1 - 5 years), much longer in fact than the TWC 6 month commitment. Then, you will have to spend additional money to install air-conditioning, furnish, light and upkeep the space, plus you will have to pay property tax, internet, phone, utilities and get insurance for the premises. You will also need staff the run the premises. Mostly certainly you will not be given a free month to try out the space before you commit. You will also have to pay first and last month's rent up front and possibly an additional security deposit. You may also need a guarantor for your lease. The project is much more involved and costly then it first appears - which may explain why no one created a writers' centre in the past.
But, go for it!
FREE trial membership wasn't mentioned.....i had thought that a paid trial membership of less than six months would be a good idea. $1050 plus GST plus $107 initiation fee is quite a lot of money to pay as a lump sum. yes, it is $6 per day but you're not asking folks to pay on a per day basis. i do like the idea of the writing centre......i also like coffee shops......
You are correct! Asking for the entire six months up front is outrageous - which is why we don't.
We take first and last month, as is customary, and then the writers pay us monthly after that.
The initiation fee is also customary. It helps cover some (but not all) of the initial capital costs of the centre.
Just arrange a tour and we might be able to do something with respect to trials, but I can't promise you anything at this point.
Best,
"clean, bright, comfortable, quiet, distraction-free workspace"
Ooooh, yes, that's called my home office, and the fee is included in my mortgage payment. Sorry, but I think $175/month is nutty, but I guess the uppercrust (or former-lawyer) writers can afford it. Good for them! Me, I'll stick to my atmospheric coffee shop, which I happen to think is NOT crap. I don't need some fancy schmancy rarified salon in which to do my creative work.
If you really want to write, you'll get past all the excuses and just do it, whether it's in a coffee shop, a home office, a bus shelter or even an overpriced Yorkville writing parlour. The sweat of other writers is no inspiration for me!