It Matters Which Chair You Park In
Coffee shops. Pubs. Libraries. Writers sitting in the shadowy corners of public places, jotting down future classics is so iconic the image has become a trope. From a boozy Ernest Hemingway hanging out at Sloppy Joes in Key West to an impoverished JK Rowling finishing the first Harry Potter in a café, stories abound of locations tied to literary legends.
These images are part of the writing life’s allure. Gone from the consciousness (hopefully) is the heavy smoker slaving over a dimly it typewriter. Yet, the idea of a writer as a regular at the local watering hole still holds sway. It’s why Tolkien fans take pilgrimage to The Eagle and Child and others flock to Deacon Brodie’s in Edinburgh, just to be in a place frequented by Rabbie Burns.
A writer in a bar may be a trope, but it still works.
In a practical sense, getting out of one’s normal writing space (home office, kitchen table, car’s back seat, etc.) often proves a shot in the arm for both creativity and productivity. Creatively, the change in atmosphere prompts new ideas. It eliminates distraction by taking the writer away from the temptations of housework or other life necessities that interfere with putting down words. It offers opportunity to observe human nature. Also, knowing time is limited in that public space–what with closing hours, zealous waitstaff, and all–a writer writes faster and in greater volume.
Of course, if one is three pints and a couple of drams into it, the writing may be what some Greek historians call, “gibberish.”
So, where do you go to change up your writing environment? A pub of an evening? A coffee shop mid-morning? Are you a park bench enthusiast? If you haven’t delved into your work in progress while away from your everyday space, why not? Try it. Maybe I’ll see you scribbling in your notebook or clicking away at your keys and we’ll both raise a glass (or mug, or water bottle) in knowing salute. And, with effort and luck, someday your readers may visit that spot, just because you parked your backside there on more than one occasion.
