Our bricks & mortar space, Writers' Dojo, is a shared, creative office and center of excellence for serious writers. We offer daily and monthly memberships. Members have diverse backgrounds, styles, and deadlines. But we share resources and common goals to be madly prolific, healthy, and active members of a creative, professional community. We also host writers' groups, literary workshops, events, readings... pretty much whatever the community needs that we think is cool and that helps advance the conversation of literary arts and professionalism.

We have a sanctuary for writers: part sacred creative space, part lush clubhouse, part wifi coffee bar. Think bamboo floors, quiet loft, cozy conversation pit... along with amenities like printing, caffeine on tap, a kitchenette, garden, and showers for our bicycling commuters.

Why "Dojo"?

It's about the pen and the sword, or as Kim Stafford put it in verse: "Here practice brotherhood of the warrior and the word." The Dojo--aptly named--Japanese meaning, literally, "place of the way," is used to define a martial arts school. While Writers' Dojo maintains an Asian motif, it's also on the same property as Ecole de Budo RAJI, a unique martial arts school with a diverse international community. The property that houses the two organizations is owned and operated by the Selin family. Jeffrey Selin, co-founder of Writers' Dojo, writes daily and trains diligently under his teacher and older brother, Michael Selin. So the metaphor and connection to "Dojo" seemed natural when discussing names.

History

Other cities have writers' rooms. So why not Portland? We were influenced by places like The Writers Room in New York, The Loft in Minneapolis, and The Grotto in San Francisco. Finally, we started a blog on the topic. When enough people got involved, "the writers house llc" was born. The vision: a space like a converted Victorian in one of Portland's cool, creative areas, along with a non-profit arm and several Web 2.0 style projects.

Jeffrey and Rachel Selin had an idea for a more intimate, exclusive location. It would be an incubator for evolving literary projects and a space that would attract amazing authors from around the world to hang out, sip java, write, chat, and record literary conversations. Meanwhile, Michael Selin, had finished renovating an amazing compound that was once a wedding chapel and rectory. The new space was home to his martial arts school and for a while a gorgeous yoga studio. When Michael and his wife Emerald recommended converting the yoga space, our organization had found its home. The official launch was January 12th, 2008.