I have a terrible confession to make

I don't know how to say this, and it isn't easy for me, but I feel like I need to be honest. I've... I've... Well, I've started writing in coffee shops. I always thought that was for poseurs, but now that I'm working on a couple of my own projects and don't wade out into the world as much, I like getting out of the house and sitting at a table in the window of the local coffee shop. I stay offline and watch the world go by and drink coffee and actually write pretty productively. Not like dumb poems and shit. Real writing, for money.

I'm sorry to every coffee-shop writer I've dismissed as a beret-wearing twat.

I am you.

Thanks for listening.

 

Not the same thing, but I went from writing /editing at home to going to a workshare filled with funky people doing all kinds of jobs (video game designers, web developers, architects) and I'll be here as long as the cost is manageable. Nice to get out of the house.

 

We're supposed to get a couple of these in my little town soon. I can see myself using them.

The only thing I miss about writing for newspapers is the newsroom. I loved it.

 

What about good poems and shit? Is that acceptable?

I was in-between jobs years back and ended up at the coffee shop a few times. Never really got anything done -- other than a few chapters of Crime and Punishment. Too loud.

 

Just when I thought I was out... you pull me back in.

 

It's not the same. A third of the people and most are wearing headphones.

 

I bring my headphones in case there are a group of old folks shouting at each other, but I don't mind a hum.

 

I get that. My newsroom days are late 90s. Pre-cellphone, headphone, batphone. Good times.

 

Pearlman's got the corner on coffee shops.

 

I can't read for any extended period of time unless I have a quiet spot to myself. Writing, I can get in the zone and tune everything out. Reading, I get easily distracted.

 

Never know who you might meet in a coffee shop.