For me, the writer’s space is wherever there is a notebook and pen. I’ll write on the bus, on the train, (in a box, in the rain), in a garage while waiting for the mechanics to finish tuning my car. When I did a turn as movie extra, I got all kinds of writing done in the down time.
The wild mind can work just about anywhere–except home. It takes a tremendous amount of will for me to focus on writing at home. And when I get to editing? Forget it. The moment I hit a snag while revising at home, domestic chores suddenly become dire. I notice there are dishes to do, the floor is a disaster, I really should make the bed. (Why don’t I ever have this compulsion when I’m playing computer games?)
Cafes are my best bet. My most productive sessions get done with a sweet, caffeinated soy-something sharing a corner table with my laptop. Ever since university, I’ve discovered I work best in semi-noisy, active places, places where I can create my own bubble of silence. Libraries stifle me, every sniffle or swallow is amplified a billion times and is sure to summon a horde of vigilante silence monitors.
All through college, I was a nightclub-and-notebook writer. Wrote tons, but never really polished anything. I graduated to cafes when I was working on my thesis. SB had yet to spawn the cafe culture, so pickings were limited. Fortunately, San Diego had the Pannikin–one in Flower Hill and the other on PCH. I visited the PCH one just recently while spending the holidays with the family. Tucked under a mermaid painting on the second floor, I spent every spare writing moment.
While living in rural Japan, I was hard-pressed to find a location willing to let me plug in and camp for hours on end, never mind the availability of soy milk. Starbucks was a crap-shoot option. Some of them allowed plugging in, some didn’t. Note: the one in Nagoya, across from the Hilton, did.
Now, back in Vancouver, the cafe of choice is Our Town, with its great staff, soy chais, a happy array of vegan muffins, wide windows, and evenings of open mike and ukeles. I just now got back from a several-hour stretch of revisions.
I should coast on the great momentum I built up at Our Town today, but I’m home now. I should probably make dinner.
Editing and Writing Resources 