Whether or not it’s an accurate portrayal of writing life, it certainly sounds like a pleasant way to spend an hour or two.
This week I took a couple of days off work. No particular reason, just have some vacation time that I need to take this year and a couple of days free in my calendar, so an opportunity for a bit of down time. This morning I had a handful of errands to run, and I decided to round it off with a visit to a nearby coffee shop, laptop in hand. Just out of curiosity.
Conclusions:
- Yes, it was a pleasant way to spend an hour.
- The place was fairly busy, and I had wondered if that would be a distraction. As it turned out, that wasn’t an issue. I guess I pay more attention to noises around the house than when I’m elsewhere.
- It was a productive hour, but no more so than when I put on my headphones and am on a roll.
- By the end of an hour, I was more than ready to leave. I’m not the sort of person who’ll sit there for hours on end.
- It was good to get a change of scenery. I sometimes find that valuable in itself ... taking my laptop to the library, or to a picnic table in a park or by a beach.
OK, I can’t pretend that was a bucket list item, but at least I can say ... writer writing in coffee shop? Yep, done that :)
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9 comments:
Hi Ian - oh I don't use headphones ... but I couldn't stand the thought ... and once I've had my morning coffee - that's it ... but occasionally I'll have a coffee without the 'machinery' - good to have the days off though ... cheers Hilary
Hilary, I often use headphones at home to remove distractions, but I didn't need to in this case. Was indeed good to have a bit of time off.
I've always wondered, too. :-) When I see people doing it they look so... writerly. :-)
Teresa - yes they do, don't they? And I always wonder if that's the only reason they do it :D
Huh! I KNOW I already read this post... I wonder why I didn't comment? (Getting old, I reckon...) I've never tried writing in a coffee shop... in fact, I've never BEEN in a coffee shop, but if it's crowded, I dunno how much writing I'd get done. I'm too much of a people-watcher and talk-to-strangers kinda person.
Susan, I wondered how well it would work, too. In this case, it was fine, good for a change of scenery, but that was about it.
I only do this during NaNoWriMo, when I'm hosting write-ins. It works there because I'm with other writers and the sound of their pounding keyboards keeps me on task. Otherwise, I find it too distracting - especially the conversations going on around me. There always seems to be one voice somewhere in the place that carries, and it's always some stupid endless conversation that makes me want to roll my eyes until they fall out of my head.
Glad it was a good experience for you though. :)
I've never written in a coffee shop. Partly because I use a desktop computer at home to write, and it's the method that I'm most comfortable with. I have a laptop, but it is huge and heavy and I'm terrible at typing on its weird keyboard for anything longer than website logins or the occasional social media update.
The other reason being that busy activity all around me while I write creatively is a major annoyance. I can do workplace tasks in such a manner, but not *real* writing. Know what I mean? :)
Sounds like you did it the right way, though. Just an hour seems like a good, doable length at a coffee shop ... even for me.
David, I had wondered about the distractions, but I find I can tune out some things better than others and this didn't bother me. But lugging a desktop computer around is definitely not going to work :)
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