First There Were Vanity Publishers…
Now there’s vanity offices. Why ever would I want to pay 350 dollars a month for this, when I can get the same service in my own living room and not even have to leave the house?
theOffice, creating the ideal workplace for indie writers
I am in west Los Angeles today and dropped by theOffice, a community workspace serving the professional writing community of Santa Monica and surrounding areas. They have put a lot of thought and effort into creating an ideal creative work environment combining elements of a cafe, library, and Feng Shui garden into a place creative professionals feel inspired and focused.
Background information
The workspace was founded by writer and director Aleks Horvat in 2004 with charter members such as J.J. Abrams, Jim Uhls, and Mara Brock Akil. A wall-of-fame tracks successful works written in the space. Aleks was working out of cafes or at home, using uncomfortable chairs, and surrounded by noise and interruptions. theOffice was founded to create a quiet new space free of interruptions, surrounded by other like-minded individuals, and with access to everything they needed to be successful writers.
What is your ideal work environment? The working space here contains a 8-foot bonsai tree and river stones as the centerpiece of a round table and group work area. A bubbling brook creates ambient noise nearby. The edges of the room contain individual desks or you may wish to plop down on a more plush chair with a writing ledge. Since we’re in sunny Santa Monica, you can also sit outside on the deck and enjoy the mild weather. I chose a seat on the edge of the room but in a group work environment sitting around the bonsai seems ideal.
Every seat has power, an ethernet jack, and ambient WiFi. You can sit in an Aeron chair, wear Bose noise-reducing headphones, and focus on your work. A common library supplies the latest newspapers, trade magazines, industry directories, and reference books. Tea, coffee, water, and espresso drinks are available. The environment is focused on quiet: you must set your cell phone on vibrate, and take any conversations outside. It’s located near San Vicente Boulevard and 26th Street in Santa Monica, between two country clubs and near the target market of writers in their 30s and 40s. The surrounding area contains a few small restaurants and shops to provide good food and entertaining work breaks.
I dunno. Seems to me that this enterprise(though well done for spotting a niche), is all surface, aimed at wannabe’s who like the idea of being a writer in public. “Look at me, with my Bose headphones and Aeron chair!, I’m here, I’m a writer!” Certainly I don’t know anyone who’d pay 350 dollars a month for the privilege, even if they had it spare, which most writers don’t. The fact that it’s located between two country clubs tells you all you need to know about their target audience.
My own feeling is that if you write you have to write like you have to breathe, and the background is irrelevant. I write with cats and the radio and coffee and cigarettes and the occasional joint. Other people around, showing off, would drive me nuts, cool equipment and bonsai trees notwithstanding and I suspect I’m not the only one. Writers can be very misanthropic.
YMMV, and I’d be interested to know how. Where and how do you write, if you do?
