Tired of writing alone? Find community at The Stacks Bookstore's write-in events

Admit it, you’ve got one. Perhaps, it’s a Vonnegut-inspired, sci-fi fantasy thriller lurking in a folder on your desktop, and you just can’t find time to finish it. Or maybe those leather-bound handwritten poems, crossed through, marked up and re-written, are finally ready to be presented for more eyes to read.

If you have a manuscript or a writing project you’ve been poring over, or procrastinating on, and want a creative space in which to work and potentially meet more like minds, The Stacks Bookstore, 2409 Waters Ave., on Savannah's east side, now hosts a monthly meet-up for local writers. The next write-in event takes place 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., Feb. 11.

Store owner and event planner Cindy Otis knew from the beginning she wanted a place where writers could create. Ahead of the bookstore’s official opening Jan. 7, Otis had already held a series of write-ins at Hostess City hotspots. In October, Otis held one at Late Air Wine Bar then another in November at Venezuelan coffee shop, Troupial. At each, at least 30 writers showed up with laptops and notebooks in tow.

“I wanted a bookstore that would serve both readers and writers,” emphasized Otis. “Now that we are open, the write-ins have proven to be an important part of our vision to bring creatives together. I signed a lease for the space in July 2023. It had no walls, no electricity, no ceiling, or bookshelves. The build-out took several months, but the write-ins helped create community long before we were open.”

New bookstore serves as community for writers and readers

A write-in session works like this: after the bookstore closes on a Sunday, any local person identifying as a writer is invited to indulge between 5 and 7:30 p.m. Employees move bookshelves and add more chairs and tables. Some writers choose to sit on the floor. At the beginning of the session, people chat, but once settled in, the writers get quiet and focus on their task at hand.

Otis, who spent roughly 18 years working in the federal government and tech industry, is grateful to call Savannah home. Now a five-year resident, she’s also a published author. Written from her perspective as former CIA analyst, her first work, “True or False,” is a non-fiction guide for young adults deciphering media and tricky headlines. Otis’s following two works are young adult fiction thrillers published by Scholastic Books.

Dr. Darnise C. Martin moved to Savannah in June and immediately began looking for community events and ways to get involved. An online professor at Loyola Marymount University, Dr. Martin specializes in African American history and religion. Much of her writing is scholarly, for example, her 2005 work, “Beyond Christianity,” published by NYU Press, is in part ethnographic inquiry into a Religious Science church in Oakland, California. She’s also self-published two spirituality-based self-help books and has a sizable online presence. Writing and communication are key to who and how Martin is in the world.

Getting involved at The Stacks has grown as opportunity to connect with more writers and for her to use her writing time wisely.

“I met Cindy at the outdoor event at Late Air and was then invited to the Troupial event,” recalled Martin. “That was before the store was even open, and here were all these writers showing up to write and network in spite of not having a physical space. And I thought, ok, no more making excuses. It’s time to do this.”

Martin plans to use the monthly write-ins in reaching her goal of publishing a work of fiction. For several years she’s been tinkering with a metaphysical thriller.

“The sessions will allow me to be very intentional about working on my novel,” said Martin. “I see the write-ins as a designated time to focus and work, and I’m looking forward to that time and space.”

For author Jeffrey Pax, it’s all about an opportunity to get out of the house into a focused workspace and mingle among other wordsmiths. Like Martin, he attended the prior write-ins and felt a connection not only to the writers but also to Otis’s greater vision of reading, writing and creating community.

“The write-ins remind me of the library when you’re a kid and how it’s important to be hushed, quiet,” reflected Pax. “Writing really is so fragile. It’s lost easily to distraction and immediate needs, but write-ins provide a mostly distraction free space to concentrate and work.”

Pax, a former pre-K and special education teacher, noticed a need among his young students for basic classroom guidelines. He then wrote a children’s book, “The Rules,” and teamed up with an old high school acquaintance for the illustrations. And instead of looking for an agent, Pax went the route of self-publication.

“I didn’t bother trying for a traditional publisher because I knew I had an audience and market,” emphasized Pax. “I went straight to Amazon and set up a print-on-demand book, and this has really been positive for me in having control over the book and its profits.”

Currently, Pax is wrapping up a second children’s book centered on appropriate behavior when in public. The Stacks Bookstore carries Pax’s first title “The Rules.”

For Otis, owning a bookstore is a dream come true, especially when it comes to issues of accessibility. Otis herself is life-long disabled and uses a wheelchair. For most of her life, she’s visited bookstores in which accessibility is given little regard.

But at The Stacks, accessibility is central. The space is open and relatively easy for mobility devices to move through. All signage is displayed in high-contrast and dyslexia-friendly fonts. There are tables, chairs and lowered counters for people of all heights and abilities to use. And if a patron finds the lights too bright or music too overstimulating, he or she need but ask, and they can be turned down or off.

“I’m intent on breaking all barriers with this store,” intoned Otis. “Writing is a very isolated activity. It requires you alone to get your words down. But if you can sit together and do that process, you can find cheerleaders, champions, and a community. What I really wanted was to have people here in this space, writing and creating because writing is the closest thing to magic I've ever found. Writers build worlds and characters that don’t exist, yet they can come to life for readers. That’s magic. And that’s what I want people to experience at The Stacks.”

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: The Stacks Bookstore hosts monthly write-in events for Savannah authors