We were lucky to catch up with Marcia LeBeau recently and have shared our conversation below.

Marcia , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

The mission of The Write Space is to provide a beautiful, distraction-free space for writers to be productive in the company of other writers. A simple focus, but one that came out of a complex need I had for myself as a writer. I had only been writing poetry for a handful of years when I had children, left my career in advertising and my world completely shifted. I knew I was going to have to figure out a new place and time to write in my home to get anything done. I found a space in my house just for writing, away from the rest of the family. I would write early in the morning or late at night, but it felt so isolating. And every time I came downstairs for a snack, I was distracted by dishes or laundry or a “quick” email to answer. Even after the kids became school-aged.

When my husband outgrew his photo studio, I knew that I wanted to write there. It wasn’t long before I decided to move in and make it a co-working space for creative writers. It was a quick decision because it seemed very vital. I wanted to work with other writers and create a community, so we wouldn’t feel so alone. I wanted to have events and classes and workshops. Every writer I spoke to thought it was a great idea, many of them had a hard time concentrating at home, so I dove in headfirst. Unbeknownst to me, January of 2020 was a perilous time to open. But we are still here, so something’s working!

Marcia , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I got into poetry through working as an advertising copywriter, believe it or not. I was writing radio ads for Courvoisier Cognac and my creative director read them and was surprised that I wrote spoken word poetry. I didn’t even know what that was! That led me to Harlem and other places around NYC to experience spoken word poetry and I was hooked. I participated in open mics and slams for several years before I decided to concentrate more on the page and get my MFA in poetry. After I had my first child, I left advertising and shifted my attention to caregiving and writing poetry. I like to say I went from the most lucrative type of writing to the least.

As my kids became more independent, I had more time to write, but it felt very isolating. I wanted to create a place to write for myself and other writers. My business, The Write Space, was born to provide writers with a space to getting writing done in the company of other writers. I describe it as a gym for writers. You pay a monthly membership fee and you can come and go whenever you please.

It’s different than a traditional co-working space because, as writers, we all have different creative projects that we are working on and some of us have no idea what the outcome will be. Will an agent take it? Will it be published or produced or read? That’s the grey area that many artists live in every day; something that people with more traditional work can’t fathom. I wanted a place where people could encourage and motivate each other. We have writers’ happy hours quarterly for comradery and a lounge in the back to talk and share experiences and make connections. Some of the conversations I overhear make me so happy. I think to myself, “This is why I started this place.”

I’m so proud that The Write Space survived the pandemic. I’m proud that we have been the creative space not only for bestselling and award-winning authors like Michelle Alexander (The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness), Ibi Zoboi (American Street) Maisy Card (These Ghosts Are Family) and Laura Sims (How Can I Help You?) among many others, but also for emerging writers who never thought they would have the time or motivation to sit down and write a screenplay or a novel or whatever is in them to write. I’m proud that my first poetry collection which I finished here, A Curious Hunger, sits on the front shelf for people to purchase. Sitting down is the first step for all writers and we have the chairs!

What’s worked well for you in terms of a source for new clients? What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

Word-of-mouth and working on my SEO. Writers look to other writers for advice and recommendations. If someone whose work they respect is writing here, they want to check it out and see if it works for them. One of my best ads is in the back of Laura Sim’s latest novel which she wrote at The Write Space. She acknowledges The Write Space as “the quiet oasis where I wrote and revised much of this novel.” I’ve had multiple people come in because they saw that in her book.

I’ve also worked at making my SEO more robust. I imbed “co-working” in the photos on the website, in hashtags, and searches. Oftentimes, writers will be doing a google search for a co-working space near them and The Write Space will pop up. They’ll tell me how they were surprised to learn there was a co-working space for writers right around the corner from them. We’re lucky to be in an area with more writers per square mile than most places.

Has your business ever had a near-death moment? Would you mind sharing the story?

Besides the initial investment in the business, I refuse to operate The Write Space at a loss. Two months after I opened, the pandemic hit and I had to shut my doors to members. But I still had to pay rent. Of course, we all thought the world closing down would be temporary. But then when it wasn’t, I refunded peoples’ money and started applying for grants. Because The Write Space is in an Economic Opportunity Zone, I was able to get a grant to pay my rent for almost a year. My landlord kept alerting the businesses that rented from them of different financial opportunities and that was very helpful. I organized a jazz concert in the back courtyard that raised money for the musicians and BLM. No one was making any money. Then I started doing remote school here for my kids and one of their friends. And later, since it’s an open space, I had writers reserving the whole space for themselves for safety. It was touch and go. I never thought we would make it. But the members were devoted, and new writers kept discovering the place and getting more comfortable being around other people. I can’t believe we’ve been open almost five years. Despite the bumps, it’s really the mission that keeps me going. Nothing else exists like it in this area.

Contact Info:

• Website: [email protected]
• Instagram: @thewritespacenj
• Facebook: The Write Space

Image Credits

Feature photo and first, second, and last photo of the “Additional Photos” taken by photographer, Lee Seidenberg