A Holiday Gift Guide
Shop Writespace, of course!
We had to start with gifts you can get from the best little writing community in Houston. We are only a little partial. We have several ways to gift a writer that will give a writer support for their writing.
We had to start with gifts you can get from the best little writing community in Houston. We are only a little partial. We have several ways to gift a writer that will give a writer support for their writing.
- A Writespace membership for only $5.00 a month. What does a membership include?
- Discounted pricing of between 25% and 35% on over 80 Writespace workshops.
- Discounted pricing of 15% on Writespace's flagship annual literary festival, Writefest and Writer's Family Reunion.
- Exclusive admission to Members Only First Page Feedback Sessions.
- Exclusive notification of new workshop postings two days before the general public and the chance to sign up before workshops sell out.
- Take five workshops during your membership year and receive one free three-hour workshop (to access this benefit, please email us the list of workshops you've taken).
- Celebration of your writing successes on our Member Success Stories page.
- Member only field trips to Houston literary events.
- Free admission to Writespace community events.
- A free 3-hour workshop on us for your birthday! Email us to get your gift code during your birthday month.
- A 20% discount on a Scrivener subscription and on ProWritingAid's Premium subscriptions.
- A personal consultation with programming director Jamie Portwood to talk writing, writing goals, and how Writespace can best support you.
- A gift certificate for any and all of the following
- In-person and online workshops to teach you the craft of writing in all genres and industry education from publishing experts.
- Pace Yourself workshops by Cassandra Rose Clarke to study at home on your own time
- Write Practice subscriptions to find the right practice for your writing practice
- And editing services from one of our vetted, trusted editor
Shop Indie Bookstores
You can look at all the lovely pens and journals and bookmarks and other necessaries that writers can never have enough of at these local indie bookstores. Can't find the book you want? Ask them to order it for you and then wait for the call to pick it up. A second trip to a bookstore is never a bad idea!
Journal and Magazine Subscriptions
There are so, so many but here are some subscriptions we love and recommend:
Shop Indie Presses
Skip Amazon by ordering directly from these beloved indie presses. They're doing the work of creating quality books and opportunities for voices to be heard.
Gift Ideas (From the Past)
We asked our favorite writers about the best literary gift they've ever gotten. We all need ideas, especially for those annoying peole who just buy themselves what they want when they want it. So hard to shop for! We gotchu, friend!
- A pack of 5 different sized notebooks that gave me a sense of luxury and abundance.
- A beautiful bound book with gold raised designs. Also, I gave the gift of a Poe Speakeasy to myself.
- Books
- Opportunities to speak to other writers about mental health topics
- Time to read for fun
- Bespoke jewelry -- I have a favorite jeweler.
- An original painting incorporating a favorite literary quote
- Tickets to literary readings and lectures
- Probably a mug that said "Novelist at work"
- Poems
- Standing desk and a bushel of erasable, colored Frixon pens
- It wasn’t a gift, but I wouldn’t survive without Scrivener. (Did we mention that Writespace members get a 20% discount)
- A journal made by Lee Steiner
- Fellowship to Hedgebrook, a writers’ colony for women
- A tote bag with my book cover on it!
- A nice heavy book snake for holding books open--like this one!
- A writing stand!
- A Jane Austen candle, patron saint of poor relations, hidden greatness, and anonymity.
Houston writes like Houston eats. GOOD! Shop local authors and indie publishers and find your new favorite series this holiday season.
Gift Ideas (From the Future)
Because you can never have too many ideas about what to give the people you love. We asked our favorite writers the gift they want to get this year.
- Pens! Because of course we need pens. We love Pentel Energel, Sharpie Gel, TUL, and artistic pen brands. You can never go wrong with fountain pens like the Lamy writing instruments.
- Beautiful journals with plenty of writing space.
- Word games! Gosh, we do love word games, don’t we? Check out “Dialect: a Game About Language and How it Dies” or the classic “Ransom Notes - The Ridiculous Word Magnet Game” and its extension packs.
- An electric tea kettle, tea blends, and all the ingredients for a warm cuppa.
- Speaking of cuppa, we always need new mugs!
- Etsy gifts like custom jewelry, stationary, pottery, or anything else that catches your eye.
- A reading pillow and other cozy accoutrements.
- Artist biographies, special edition books, art collections, and everything else that makes us revel in the beauty of creativity.
- Gift certificate to all the local bookstores in Houston! (See above)
- Time to read and write! Help the writer in your life by gifting them time to write with programs like our Write Practice Subscription. (We did not pay them to say this, we promise)
- Book your writer a trip somewhere to just connect with self and let the words flow. Pssst, we’ll also have a retreat in March, so keep your eyes open for “Into the Woods with Writespace” soon.
- Workshop tickets to Writespace, Grackle and Grackle, Inprint Houston, and more.
- Help them get that book contract and further their work with an agent, editor, and/or writing mentor. Check out our Mentoring and Editing Program!
- Gift of donations to literary non-profits like Writespace, Tintero Projects, Bloomsday Literary, and many more! (While we did not pay them to say this, we wholeheartedly endorse this gift idea as we can always use the money to enable us to do more things)
Shop Local Houston Authors
Shop local authors and indie publishers and find your new favorite series this holiday season. This is by no means a comprehensive list of the local authors to be found here in this big, old city, so we encourage you to be curious about local writing events and find your new favorite authors close to home! Without further ado, here are our ultimate tables of books from some of our favorite people (sorted into Non-Fiction and Fiction tables). Happy holidays!