Welcome to Writes & Bites — a series where Creative Writing MFA student Arianna Gundlach will periodically review a place in New York City you could write at and tackle a writing topic that has been weighing on your mind. This week we look at Black Cat LES located at 172 Rivington St.
The original version of this Writes & Bites article was published in the New School Free Press’s fall 2023 print issue, in which it was titled “Writes & Bites: Black Cat LES and writing 50,000 words in 30 days.” Because National Novel Writing Month is over, the article has been updated to reflect a more timely writing topic.
Hello, dear readers and writers. I’ve been expecting you.
Even with fall dwindling and winter announcing its arrival, you can hold onto your fall-girl vibes for as long as you’d like. With this in mind, I’ve found a café to satisfy your needs.
A quick subway ride on the F or M from the 14th Street/Sixth Avenue station to Delancey Street-Essex Street, will let you off with just a five-minute walk to Black Cat LES. Now, keep a careful eye out — Black Cat is a hidden gem sunken into Rivington Street, down some steps, and in through the second door on the right. You might just miss it, and that would be a true loss.
While the graffiti-stricken Lower East Side might be uninviting to some, Black Cat is cozy and eccentric — a unique combination that makes you feel right at home. Black Cat prides itself on being “your public living room.” They have an odd but endearing family of vintage lounge furniture, where you’re not exactly sure how they’re all related, but they feel like a family, nonetheless.
You really can’t go wrong with your choice of seating whether it’s the velvety teal couch facing the counter, a traditional wooden chair at the long wooden table, or one of the leather couches. The red-brick and wood interior is café meets cabin. The finishing touches, including a “One Hundred and One Dalmatians” reminiscent piano, well-loved board games, old-timey trunks, and a stained typewriter, make Black Cat feel authentic and community-driven, instead of just a business concerned with making a sale.
The wooden floorboards even look like they could hold some secrets — like Lane Kim’s rock ‘n’ roll CDs from “Gilmore Girls.” I honestly think Jess Mariano would frequent Black Cat for its funky, leave-me-alone-let-me-read vibes. So, “Gilmore Girls” fans should feel right at home here too.
Black Cat boasts an extensive food and drink menu: bagels, croissants, muffins, cookies, and other treats. They also have savory breakfast items and lunch sandwiches with chips. Their beverages include tea, coffee, lemonade, wine, beer, and seasonal drinks (strawberry chai, maple pumpkin spice latte, dirty matcha).
There’s free Wi-Fi with the password on the tables and plenty of outlets around — you just have to look a little harder for them. There’s plenty of space, at least there was the morning I visited, since most people seem to be coming and going, instead of holing up for the day.
The jazzy lounge music is set at a low volume and most people seem to be there to work, not chat — so it’s an ideal balance of quiet and ambient noise. Black Cat is a perfect place to hunker down and get some serious writing done. And with November now in the rearview, I have a serious writing challenge for you. If you’re up for the task.
Along with the end of November, came the close of National Novel Writing Month — affectionately known as NaNoWriMo — which is a writing sprint of 50,000 words over 30 days. To the fellow crazy people who participated, I mean fellow writers, congratulations. Whether you wrote 50,000 words or 1,000, you got words down, and I’m so proud of you. After going through a personal NaNo drought for three years, I finally reached 50,000 words on the afternoon of Nov. 30.
Pat yourself on the back. Take a deep breath. But don’t take your hands off the keyboard just yet. Your work isn’t done. You might think the hardest part is over, but the real challenge is just ahead.
Revisions.
Even if you didn’t participate in NaNoWriMo, knowing how to revise well is the key to crafting powerful and polished work. Ready? Have you taken that breath? Good, let’s dive in.
First, take some time away from your work-in-progress (WIP), especially if you’ve been writing it for months or years and are practically sick of the sight of it. Coming back to your writing after some distance gives you a fresh perspective and a new appreciation (or annoyance) for the words you have down.
For my current WIP, I kept everything I spit out for my NaNo word count; this included plot points I knew were outdated and characters I was planning to delete. I politely moved these things to the end of my draft, so they could be out of the way but still count for something. The time I spent writing these words still led me to discoveries — so don’t beat yourself up, and remember all words are worth it in the end.
If you still have plenty of printing points or your own printer (lucky you), I highly recommend printing your salvageable pages and reading the fine print. On your first read, pens down. I mean it. Just make silent notes in your head.
Then you can go through again and again, red pens blazing. This is the time to smooth out logistics: fill in gaps, note inconsistencies, replace the word “blank” with what you actually meant but didn’t have the time to look up in the moment. Get messy with it — cross things out, draw arrows, write WHAT WERE YOU THINKING in big capital letters. Let it all out, and I promise something good will come of it.
Now, you have to learn not to be so attached to anything in your story. Fun fillers or tangents can be just that — fun — but if they’re not doing anything productive for your plot or your characters, you need to have the willpower to give them the ax. For my WIP, this was my protagonist’s second love interest.
Decide what’s salvageable, decide what’s a maybe, find those crucial details and moments of exposition, admire the 10% that’s absolutely beautiful (at least that’s my percentage, maybe you have more!), and trash what you know isn’t working or is simply pure word vomit. If you absolutely don’t want to delete something in case it could come in handy or you might un-delete that second love interest, create a separate document just for those loose ends.
They don’t have to breathe the same air as your beautiful 10%, but they’re also not gone forever. You can call upon them if you need them. Knowing what works and what doesn’t, what needs to be changed and what just has to go, shows your growth as a writer. Making decisions is progress even if it feels like going backwards or starting over in some places.
If you’re having trouble fixing the kinks in your plotting, I recommend reading “Save the Cat! Writes a Novel” by Jessica Brody. If you’re feeling like your characters just aren’t clicking, look at some of your favorite books and see what those characters have that yours don’t (yet). Pay attention to how they’re introduced and developed. What is the writer doing to establish the protagonist’s voice and carry out their arc, and how are they doing it? The how is very important.
Rereading books that captivate you can also aid with worldbuilding that needs to be fleshed out. And for tone or voice inconsistencies, refer back to that playlist or Pinterest board that you hopefully created. If you didn’t, get on that right away — it’ll make a big difference.
Lastly, don’t forget the first page pact. Hook your reader from the very first sentence.
And when you’ve once again gotten sick of the sight of your own work, have a trusty friend read it over and give you notes. Usually they’ll find solutions (and most likely problems) that you just couldn’t put your finger on before. Friends are also good at catching typos that your observant eye somehow misses every time. Don’t worry, we’re all guilty of this at one time or another.
So when you find yourself at Black Cat, sink down into the leather couch and read over those glorious pages you toiled over for days or weeks or months on end. Take pride in all those words. You did that. You’re amazing. Then sink your teeth deep into those words; make every single one work for the story. You spent all that time writing the draft; don’t let all that time go to waste. Multiple bestsellers have come out of NaNoWriMo — with some revising, yours could be the next.
Black Cat LES
172 Rivington St.
(646) 918-7711
| Commute 20 minutes from the UC via subway (F/M). | Hours Mon-Fri 7 a.m.-10 p.m. Sat-Sun 8 a.m.- 10 p.m. |
| Tech Laptop-friendly. Outlets available. Wi-Fi available and password provided. | Noise Level Relatively quiet. |
| Gems Events at night (check full schedule @blackcat_les on Instagram); vintage lounge furniture; eclectic-funky vibes; black cat peekaboos. | Atmosphere A good place to hole up for the day. Decent amount of seating. Lives up to the advertisement as “your public living room.” |
| Be Aware Easy to miss if you’re not actively looking for it. Bathroom is only for paying customers. | Rating 3/4 Stars – based on The New York Times star system: “ratings range from zero to four stars. Zero is poor, fair or satisfactory. One star, good. Two stars, very good. Three stars, excellent. Four stars, extraordinary.” |