What's up with this clubhouse?
A Q&A about the Writers Clubhouse, and how to become a Founding Member
I’m exactly three weeks away from seeing a huge dream of mine realized. That dream—as I’m sure you probably know by now—is the opening of a physical space for ATX Writing Club.
It’s been a journey trying to find a home for us in Austin. Let me tell you, rent here, especially for commercial spaces, is not nearly as cheap as they say. There are all kinds of logistical hurdles like location, and parking, and landlords, and the list really goes on for quite a while. But nevertheless, I’m finding myself in the home stretch of a long journey.
This past week I posted a community fundraiser to bring this space to life. The largest donor, as of now, is my younger brother, who is a mensch and a first-class gentleman. But there are some other people I’d like to thank for helping bring this into fruition as well.
Dustin Godevais, Our first donor. Special thanks for believing in the mission, and helping to make Austin a more creative place.
Kate Houlihan, who I actually met at our very first salon-style dinner hosted by ATX Writing Club.
Brian Thompson, leads a cool group in town called Creative Mornings. You should check it out!
Zach Boyd, this man deserves a special shout out for a particularly generous donation.
Elina Prettyman, is an amazing painter who studied in Florence. You need to check out her work…like right now.
Anuradha Pandey, one of my favorite writers in our club.
Nicole Loya, just got her first traditional publishing deal. Go Nicole!
Becca Sherman, my close friend and Co-founder of the most amazing media company in town.
And a special thanks to Justin Gordon, Hilary Taylor, Perry Carrison, John Durant, Olivia Auxier, and John Rosales!
But wherever you are right now, please get up out of your seats and give a standing ovation to Bridgette Dussman, for a truly remarkable donation. She’s a game changer, and didn’t even leave a link for me to share. The entirety of ATX Writing Club salutes you Bridgette!
So here’s an update on where we stand today:
Currently we’ve raised $21,185 for the space, but we need to reach $48,000 by June 12th to sign the lease, take the keys, and make this dream a reality.
So what does that come down to?
If everyone who is reading this right now (which is just a small subset of folks) were to donate $25, we’d reach our goal instantly. Yes—the big donations are amazing, but the little ones really add up too. So if you’re on the fence, just know: it would be a game changer if you donated even a little bit of money to the cause.
I know we can reach our goal with your help!
Q&A for the ATX Writing Clubhouse
I know you have lots of questions about the space. So I asked a friend, and a member of ATX Writing Club, Katy Ward what she wanted to know before we opened up shop—hoping that some of her questions might answer your own.
Here were her thoughts:
1. How is it different than a coworking space membership?
Modern life can be defined by a single paradox: we are incapable of sitting quietly and doing focused work, while also living lonelier and more socially disconnected lives. We’re scattered, yet no one in particular is scattering us.
But things weren’t always this way. It wasn’t too long ago that you could retreat to a silent study, work diligently and with intensity, and then emerge to a thriving social life. What typifies this for me, is Hemingway’s daily routine in Paris. He would write in the early morning, and then emerge afterward, spending the balance of the day reading and discussing ideas with his literary pals over a glass of vermouth.
The modern coworking space is the antithesis of this ideal. While coworking spaces may be sprawling, and filled with amenities like free coffee and kombucha, they’re designed for one thing, and one thing only: for you to take pictures of the space. These types of spaces are all flash and no substance, because flash is easy to advertise, and advertisement means more members. They’re not designed, however, for you to do your best creative work. They’re also not designed for you to meet anyone new, anyone impactful, or anyone at all.
What we’re creating is the antidote to this problem. A space where you will not only be more social, but you will also be more focused. Where you’ll know everyone’s name, and you’ll do your best creative work.
Because first and foremost, the Clubhouse is a community space.
Just look at how we’re funding it. We’re not seeking outside investors, or trading equity for venture capital. We’re funding the space with donations from normal folks, like you and me (literally you and me), folks who live and work in Austin. Who else can say that?
Now let me get even more concrete:
The Clubhouse is limited to 99 members. I expect we’ll slowly approach that number over the course of two years. As a matter of fact, we’re limiting membership to 18 Founding Members for the first six months to ensure an extremely high quality community experience. Everyone will know everyone else’s name.
The space is designed to be digitally minimal, meaning no Zoom calls, or multi-monitor setups. There is no retreating behind a fortress of technology to isolate yourself from others, and distract yourself from your creative work.
There will be a library created by the community, for the community. You can check out any book we have for as long as you’d like.
There is a full kitchen at your disposal, and a kitchen table to share meals with other members.
Members have access to the space 24/7.
Members will be able to host their own events and gatherings for other members.
There is a focus to this space. It’s designed for creatives to do their best work. That means everyone, from day one, is aligned on why we are there. This is the complete opposite of the standard coworking model in the rest of the city.
2. What does digitally minimal mean? Can I write on my laptop?
Yes, you can write on your laptop. I’m not asking you to buy some 40 pound typewriter and click clack away all day. What digitally minimal means is that the focus of the space is creativity, rather than productivity.
This means that there will be no Zoom calls allowed in the space. These are wildly distracting, and generally low impact, for you and for everyone around you. There will also be no epic, sprawling multi-monitor, ergonomic techno-cocoons allowed to insulate you from the rest of the community. You’ll sit at a desk, or on the couch, or on the patio, or at the kitchen table, and lock in to your creativity. Hell, it worked for Virginia Woolf, and Steinbeck, and Tolkien, so it’ll probably work for you too.
You’ll get focused work done, because that is why you come to the space. And that is why everyone else comes to the space too.
More concretely:
We’ll have a few different modalities for you to write in the space free of charge as well. We’ll have notebooks and fountain pens on tap. We’ll also have Freewrite Digital Typewriters, Daylight Computer, and Remarkable E-Ink Tablets if you really want to disconnect from the distracting devices that live in your pocket.
3. Will access be included with membership?
There will be two different memberships for ATX Writing Club. The first is the one which everyone knows about now: it’s $24/month and it gets you access to all of our events for free. This membership does not get you access to the space, however.
Then there will be membership for the Clubhouse. Starting today, we’ll be selling 18 Founding Memberships to the space. This will give you unlimited 24/7 access to the space, as well as give you access to all ATX Writing Club events for free. The price for a Founding Membership is $1800/year.
After those first 18 Founding Memberships are sold out, the remaining memberships will be $225/month. Membership will be capped at 99 people, to ensure that everyone knows everyone’s name.
Our community values are the most important thing that we have, therefore membership to the space will be vetted by interview.
More concretely:
You’ll have 24/7 access to the Clubhouse.
You’ll get free entry to all ATX Writing Club events and workshops
You can use the space to host your own events for other members of the community.
The Founding Member price is 50% cheaper than the cheapest coworking membership in Austin (which is currently Bond Collective at $300/month)
4. When will it open?
The space will officially open to Founding Members only on July 1, 2025.
5. How can we make the space work for everyone?
(i.e. parking, bringing food/drinks, membership cap, cleaning, reservations, etc)
Parking: There is adequate street parking available at all times right outside the space. It is free. There are also several free parking lots in the area.
Food and Drinks: You can bring whatever food or drink you’d like to the space. You can also store this food indefinitely (unless it’s perishable, in which case it will be thrown out when it perishes). You may store coffee, tea, liquor, wine, or any other beverages you’d like in the space as well.
Membership Caps: There are 18 spots available for Founding Members billed at $1800/year ($150/month). Once these sell out, they’re gone forever. Then there will be 81 remaining General Memberships billed at $1350/six months ($225/month). This means there is a maximum total membership of 99. This allows us to keep the community small, yet dynamic enough for lively collaboration.
Cleaning: We require all members to be good people. Therefore cleaning won’t be a problem. (We will have professional cleaning once a month for the common areas)
Reservations: You do not need to make reservations to use the space. All members will have access to the space 24/7.
If you’d like to apply to become a Founding Member please click the link below. Three out of 18 have already been claimed, so if you’re on the fence, and have any questions, feel free to reach out to me directly by responding to this email!
Wild times folks, wild times,
—Zac