Today I’m sitting down with Stephanie Steinberg, the founder of the Detroit Writing Room, a communal space for writing that also offers writing, marketing, and publicity coaches.
LAJ: What drove you to create a writer’s room?
SS: I opened The Detroit Writing Room in June 2019 in downtown Detroit to be a writing and event space. I moved from Washington D.C. back to Detroit in 2016 and was a reporter for The Detroit News for a few years. During that time, I lived downtown and interviewed a lot of entrepreneurs and people my age who were starting their own shops, restaurants, art galleries and going after their dreams. It inspired me to start something of my own.
I’m also a published author and had gone on a 15-city book tour before moving back home. When I wanted to give a book talk downtown, there was no logical place for me to go. I thought local and national authors deserved a space downtown for book talks and book launches. I also thought the downtown area lacked an inviting space for writers, photographers, designers and other creatives to work during the day. There were a few co-working spaces at the time, but nothing that I’d want to write in for hours.
LAJ: It sounds like it’s a great space for Detroit-based writers (like me, right now). In addition to being a workspace, you all offer services. Can you tell me a bit more about those?
SS: As a journalist and writer, people often asked me for help with resumes, website copy, professional bios, scholarship applications, etc. I thought there should be a place where people could go to get help with their writing — whether for business or literary purposes. So I tapped my network of award-winning journalists, authors, screenwriters, and even grant writers, business plan writers and resume writers, and created a team of coaches that anyone could sign up with for feedback or help with their work. We also have photography and graphic design coaches.
LAJ: Obviously, there have been a lot of changes in our country in the past year. How did Covid-19 affect the Writing Room?
SS: Before the pandemic hit, the space was a place to meet our coaches for one-on-one sessions, but we also hosted the book talks I dreamed about, writing workshops, open mic nights, book fairs and other fun events like wine tastings, coffee tastings and cupcake tastings.
Since March, we’ve moved everything to Zoom. Safety is our priority, and we don’t want to risk anyone getting sick from a workshop or book talk. So we’re operating virtually and are hosting all our coaching sessions, book events, workshops and Speakers Series online. While we miss seeing everyone in person, everyone is able to stay safe this way. An unexpected, positive outcome is that now people outside of Detroit can participate in our events. We’ve had people as far as Australia, New Zealand, Portugal and England tune in! I also opened an all-virtual chapter, The New York Writing Room, with a team of 10 coaches based in New York.
LAJ: What types of events do you have coming up on the docket?
The next few weeks are packed with virtual workshops and book talks and other fun experiences like our open mic nights and Yoga for Writers. Anyone can see the lineup at detroitwritingroom.com/events. Here’s a few recurring events:
- Yoga for Writers: One Saturday a month we hold a virtual yoga class, followed by an hour of guided journaling with instructor Lindsay Madison. It’s a safe space to also share what you journal if you feel like it!
- The Art of Poetry: Detroit poet Krystalle Kompozition hosts our open mic nights virtually the last Monday of every month at 7 p.m. We’ve been growing our poetry community, and now poets from across the country and event world are joining in!
- Speakers Series: Each month we host a panel of experts from children’s book writers to podcasters. Our March 8 Speakers Series features the amazing women who run Detroit bookshops. The event is on International Women’s Day, and each bookseller has picked a book by a woman author she recommends reading.
LAJ: Because this is a writing and book blog, I’ve got to ask, what are your favorite books?
SS: People always ask me this, and it’s really painful for me to answer because I like so many! I’ll share the last book I read, which I loved. It was Michael Zadoorian’s “The Narcissism of Small Differences,” which is our featured Book Club read for June. We launched a virtual 2021 Book Club that features one author each month. Members get a chance to talk with the author on Zoom and ask questions during a Q&A. They also enjoy book discounts and giveaways. Anyone can also get single tickets to the talks at detroitwritingroom.com/book-club.
LAJ: What’s the top tool a writer needs?
SS: A purple pen! I’ve edited with a purple pen since high school. When I became an editor of the school newspaper, my journalism advisor gave me (and all the other editors) purple pens and gave an inspiring speech about the power of the pen and how your words can change the world. Since then, I’ve always edited and reported stories with a purple pen as a reminder of her words. That’s also why The Detroit Writing Room’s signature color is purple :)
LAJ: And, finally, there are a lot of people trying to write right now. It can be hard to write when there are so many geopolitical and health-related events to distract them. So, what’s your favorite productivity tip?
SS: Put your cell phone on silent, make a strong cup of coffee, close all your computer tabs to avoid distractions and just dive into what you’re writing!
LAJ: Thanks so much for joining me, Stephanie. Hopefully the pandemic will be over soon so more people can utilize the Writing Room!
