Terms

These are the terms of the house. They are short because the code that matters is not a legal document — it is what is said at the table.

Membership

Membership is by application. Nothing is charged until you are welcomed. It costs $180 a year and renews annually. You may let it lapse whenever you wish, and you will not be pursued for it.

The committee reads four times a year — March, June, September and December — and you hear either way. Many applications are held rather than refused. A no means no right now.

The code

What is said at the table stays at the table. This is the whole of it. Essays, letters, Evenings and the Sabbatical are all held in confidence, and nothing written or said in this house travels outside it.

Members may not sell to members. Ever. Not softly, not as an introduction, not as a favour. This is not a networking group.

An invitation accepted is an invitation honoured. Places are scarce, and a seat left empty is a seat another woman could have taken.

Removal for a breach of the code is permanent and unrefunded. It is the only thing this house is strict about, and it is strict about it because the room is only worth entering while the code holds.

The Evenings and the Sabbatical

An Evening cannot be booked, requested or bought. Members are invited, one at a time, by name.

Only members may apply for the Sabbatical. It is priced on its own page, plainly. A deposit holds a room and is refundable for fourteen days and not after; the balance falls due as stated when you book. Being able to pay is a requirement, never a qualification.

Travel to and from the house, and travel insurance, are yours. Insurance is required.

What we write

Our essays, our words and the design of this site are ours. What you write to us stays yours — we hold it to read it and to decide, not to publish it. If we ever wanted to publish something you wrote, we would ask you first, by name.

Where we stand

We run this house carefully and we will tell you the truth when something goes wrong. We cannot promise the site is never down, and nothing here limits any right you have that cannot lawfully be limited.

These terms are governed by the law of the State of Texas, and we would far rather resolve anything by writing to each other first.

Writing to us

Anything at all: write to the house. A real person reads every word.