Saturday, February 22, 2014

Writer in Search of a Writing Spot

I need a change in scenery. Something to spice up the endless hours of burning my eyes out on the screen. Meeting my 1k word count goals every day at the same computer in the same shifting light is fine... but I'm tired by the weekend. I want to go outside.

Or sit inside, in the AC, but somewhere that's not the office or my own house.



Graduate school gave me the chance to write anywhere I wanted on campus. I had my pick of at least five different buildings, each with their own nooks and outlets to suit my moods.

But now I commute to work, come home, and go to sleep. And at work, the only real place to sit is in my cubicle. I'm really good at sitting there for hours. So my project is to find (a few) public places (besides the library) that I can hunker down at and write on the weekends.

I haven't always had this opinion - another point for the Real World. In fact, writing in public spaces had been kind of fun to joke about among my grad peers, because we all knew the stigma behind it. To quote one of my favorite cheeky writing books, Robert's Rules of Writing, Robert Masello says:

Starbucks is where writers who want to be seen in the act of creation go, who treat writing as if it were some kind of performance art. They want to be admired, they want to be soothed by the ambient noise and the occasional glance from an attractive patron. They want to be asked, "What are you working on?" so they can sit back and talk about it.

I'm not gonna lie. Part of the intrigue is that I have a shot at being a little more social. By simply sitting at a cafe or bookstore, the possibility of making new friends or witnessing something inspiring (or funny) is greatly increased than... if I sat at home.

Besides, aren't hip 20-something's supposed to be out in public, soaking up the universe? I dunno. You tell me.

I've been living in the same place for 10+ years (not including the four years at college), so I know what's around here. Businesses close so fast that my memories of failed gift shops, pet stores, and a parade of restaurants isn't so great. The rent's too high, I guess, for some entrepreneur to open a coffee shop down the street from me.

Like any good sleuth, I searched the internet for coffee shops, bakeries, soup and sandwich shops - anything that might be in reasonable driving distance. The shops I found were a good 45 minutes away (without traffic) and/or in dubious areas of town. So.

So.

So. That leaves only one place: Barnes & Noble. *cue ominous music*

My local B&N (which is not so local, driving-wise) is really the only central book hub left after Borders closed. There are no used bookstores. Only one place to go. Personally, I love wandering the two-story store; as much as I love ordering books online, nothing beats the pleasure of finding books by simply stumbling upon them. There's a coffee shop inside the store, so to speak, so I'm going to start going there to write for an hour or two in the morning.

The hard part is making sure I don't leave with a new book each time!


Do you have a favorite place you like to write/read at besides at home? What's your view about writers writing publicly? 


BTW, make sure you stop by Namie's blog, Good Morning Lovely, because she's just posted her interview with me there. Do poke around her blog; Namie's posts are both uplifting and inspiring - and I have the honor of being her friend (like, in real life. We hang out).

15 comments:

  1. I really love the thought of camping out in a bookstore or something and writing in public, but I have too many weird habits. I talk to myself a lot while I'm writing a story. I'll mutter under my breath and make lots of hand gestures and things to get a feel for how to describe them. Or if I get stuck on a paragraph, I'll get up and walk around in circles listening to loud music or something like that. So I end up feeling really self-conscious if I try to do it in public. Even writing in my office on campus ended up being kind of frustrating, honestly.

    So in theory it sounds really neat! Whenever I try it, though, it doesn't work out so great. I'm way too aware of everyone else around me.

    (And seriously, I was shocked by the lack of coffee shops and bookstores in certain parts of town there! I live in a teeny little town in Appalachia and I feel like we've got way more here than we need. I figured there would be a ton around the campus there, since it's kind of in a big city, and it's a big university and stuff...but it was a weird big city. I mean, it was nice, but not at all what I was expecting!)

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    1. You do? I never would have guessed. Must have been too busy watching Canon fairy tales instead of studying your writing habits. Your office didn't allow for much privacy, though, so I don't blame you for being uncomfortable. At least I had a legit cubicle that gave me a fair amount of privacy.

      Hmmm, I don't think I do anything weird when I write. My co-workers would have told me, haha. I tend to lean really close to the screen even though I can see perfectly fine. Maybe it's just my way to getting close to the story, haha. When I'm stuck, I'll either search desperately through my music for something to SAVE ME!!! or get up and take a walk to the restroom (the only place to walk to at the office, really).

      I know! We have nothing to do here! It's a fact I'll never come to terms with, even though, for the most part, I do like where I live.

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  2. I have a tendency to work on my writing (poetry, short stories, novel-in-progress) in a rough, handwritten sort of format, so I categorized them by binders and carry them with me everywhere I go so that an idea would never elude me. I also have a notepad where I write down any ideas. I specifically enjoy going down to the lake front of the city here in Toronto and sitting and writing there, or I sit outside the art university on the benches in the small park, or in the art gallery when I do my volunteering there. There's a huge bookstore in the center which has tons of cozy arm chairs and I usually sit there too and write.

    I love though when authors write publically, it just draws me into starting a conversation with them I can't help it, and I think it helps them sometimes to know that people are interested in what they're doing, or sometimes I see people sit down and discuss plot and characters and they help out each other and it's honestly just awesome. Go for it! Anywhere you find to be a social place, though coffee shops are honestly just awesome for that, then go and write! Parks are also awesome places, they're more serene and calm but you still get to be surrounded by nature and people with a bit of a more quite atmosphere that's more accepting for the creative soul.

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    1. That sounds wonderful! Thanks for sharing! Universities provide the best places to just sit and write. I wish I had done more writing outside of my dorm in college - whenever I found a hideaway or special bench, I'd sit and daydream rather than write, haha. But I guess I was working stories out in my head... so that kind of counts as writing. It just doesn't get down on paper.

      Yes! I agree with you about how positive it can be for writers to write in public and be noticed - because, as we all know, writing is lonely. It makes all the difference in the world when someone, especially a stranger, shows interest in your work.

      Ugh, it's too hot around here to sit at a park and write, but that's a nice idea.

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  3. I've started blogging at Starbucks on campus in the mornings. Not exactly a super unique place, but I sort of enjoy the bustle in the background (and knowing coffee and snacks are literally 10 steps away haha)

    If I wasn't so worried about losing my parking space on campus, maybe I'd find some other places to hang out during my breaks, like Panera (again, yay food) or even Felicitous.

    I actually love hunting around for secret little places to hideout and read or game. I used to do that during college. Pack my tote with a good book, a snack, and a cozy sweater and find some place to hole up in for a few hours. Maybe it's because I've always had to share a room with my sisters. Maybe it's because my family is sort of large and I need some quiet space. Or maybe I just get too damn anti-social sometimes.

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    1. You're the least anti-social person I know *remembers how often you'd run off during events, talking to millions of people while I trailed you like a lost puppy*

      Those were the days, haha.

      Ah, so that's the secret to your blogging! You've been writing so many new posts and it's great to see! Blogging is a little less serious that working on a manuscript, so the hustle and bustle isn't distracting. Good idea. Blogger isn't that friendly towards blogging with tablets, but I'm getting used to it. I have to use my laptop in order to upload pictures still, though. Ugh.

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  5. I like writing in coffee shops for a couple reasons. First, they don't kick you out or give you looks, unless they're closing. Second, I buy a drink and I don't allow myself to leave until I've finished my goal for the day and justified buying the drink. This can be quite a challenge if I procrastinate on writing but then drink all my beverage and have to go to the bathroom.

    Third, there's usually enough background noise so that I can listen to my music on my headphones without worrying about my neighbors hearing it, which can happen in quiet libraries. I've never actually been asked about my work, which is good, and I don't expect to be. One of the advantages of living next to a college campus; everyone inside the local coffee shop is working on something.

    If someone looked over my shoulder this week, they would have seen me writing about a shapeshifter trying to coax a girl into a hot spring, which would have probably made for an interesting conversation. Or really awkward.

    Probably awkward.

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    1. Coffee shops really are the best of writing. I tend to feel self-concious when I'm out places like that, thinking that I'm taking up space with no right to be there (if I didn't buy something... or have already finished my drink). I'd want to make buying an overpriced drink worth it too with word count, haha.

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  6. Kim, just read your interview -- great job! I love learning new things about you, like the whole skidoo answer! Going to e-mail you now. Enjoyed your post, too!

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    1. Thank you! I thought you knew all my secrets ;)

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  7. I totally agree with you that school offered the best places to work—I miss my grad school office so, so much!

    My favorite place to work is a library—quiet, but there are people moving around and muted conversations. I've never tried working in a bookstore cafe b/c they're usually too crowded—excited to hear how your B&N outing goes!

    Right now, I work in a cafe with good space—I have a hard time writing if I feel cramped/people can glimpse my screen—and great windows. In Taipei my favorite place to work was an art studio that had a cafe as sort of a secondary thought, so usually I was the only one working on a laptop there. In San Francisco, it matters less which cafe it is, as long as it isn't too tiny. B/c so many people work in tech here and can work from home in cafes, it's a rarer sight to see someone without a laptop. And because that's the norm, I'm less conscious about going about my work in public :P

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    1. Wow, it's so interesting to hear about the different atmospheres those coffee shops have. I love the art studio - that sounds like such a cool place. There's an awesome tea shop in Lakeland that I went to all the time in college. Because there wasn't enough space to sit there, you could take your tea next door to a pottery painting shop and drink. It was so noisy because of the kids painting and running around, but it was fun too.

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  8. Oh I forgot to mention! You're probably already aware of Coffitivity, but just in case: http://coffitivity.com/

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    1. I HAD NO IDEA. This is awesome - I'm grabbing the app right now!

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