The Detroit Writing Room, a haven from noise and distraction to hone your literary skills

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Listen closely. Can you hear it? 

No? Good. That's the point. 

"Panera Bread or a coffee shop, they are mixing and machines are going," said Tatiana Wheeler. "It was a distraction, more so than a real connection...."

Wheeler is sitting in the Detroit Writing Room, where she pays to use the space. But what is that space and how is it used? Think of it as a quiet room free of distractions, or an open canvas to foster ideas and grow your brand. Maybe it's a room to freelance your journalism or run your social media campaigns.

The Detroit Writing Room is as much an idea as it is a physical space. What you do in it is up to you.

"Detroit is the place to be if you are an entrepreneur right now and have a big idea," said Stephanie Steinberg, a founder of the former kickstarter project, "and I had this idea a couple of years ago and thought I got to try it and this is the place to do it."

Open since June, 2019, the writing room's website describes the idea as "a cozy co-working space in the heart of Detroit for people to work, write and create." It description is purposefully broad. And to help foster the working, writing and creating of its clients comes a slew of professionals that spent years doing those things.

"There's also Felecia Henderson, long time Detroit Free Press, Detroit News editor, Neal Rubin, another Detroit News editor," said Jake Serwer, another founder of the writing room. "And then we have grant writers, people who are looking for a grant writing, speech writing, presentation writing." 

Steinberg said someone recently signed up with Tim Leonard, a screenwriting coach who offered help on screenplay drafts. Another person came in looking for help operating their DSLR camera. They also offer comedy and poetry training as well.

Both Steinberg and Serwer are no strangers to the writing profession. The married couple each have a background in journalism. After seeing the potential Detroit offered for new ideas, they saw fertile ground to grow those ideas.

"We kept reading about stories in Detroit about all these entrepreneurs and anything from a coffee shop to a new restaurant, really unique businesses opening up and we thought we've got to be a part of that," said Jake Serwer. "We have to find a way to come back to the city." 

Some of those ideas may come from Laura Khalil, a public speaker did a class on how to make good money as a freelancer.

"Once they start writing, (they think) it becomes very hard to make money doing that or live well doing that and I want to show people, no actually you can," Khalil said. "You can make more than six figures, absolutely."

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