The coffeehouse: a writer’s home away from home

It’s not a stretch to say that the corner cafe in Anytown USA is likely the first place writers will go to get some work done. Especially now with (mostly free) wi-fi services, exceptional coffee, more plug ins and the cheap rent of a cup of joe to hold one’s table for a couple of hours.

I live in a community of 23,000 and we have, easily, a dozen hangouts where we can set up shop away from home, and every one of them a stand-alone business (meaning: no Starbucks!). Some of my favorites? Pegasus, Bainbridge Bakers, Blue Ocean Cafe.

People who aren’t writers smile at what they must imagine is a romantic notion about the writing life: Ah, to while away one’s hours in a coffeehouse for a living.

We writers don’t usually hold them to the reality check of that misconception: the reason why we go there is not because our lives of intellectual vigor are leisurely, but rather, quite typically, low-paying and riddled with hard, real work. And big bucks or no, we all have to write somewhere. We run the risk of turning into hermits if we stay home all the time, and if we did that, what would we have to write about?

No, the simple truth is, the library is the most affordable writer’s haunt, but let’s face it: you can’t take in hot beverages. And a cup of something yummy at the writer’s elbow make a coffeehouse the perfect home away from home.

Friends often ask: Isn’t it noisy? Aren’t there too many interruptions?

For me, it’s precisely the din of clinking cups, forks against pastry plates, chitchat, soft music and the fluttering of newsprint that makes it a great place to work. Babies crying, old guys debating the news, the laughter of young mothers with kids still in school: these are comfort sounds to me.
At home, there might be family members or the telephone or the buzz of the dryer to compete with. As much as I love my family, I have yet to find a way to completely silence them or otherwise eliminate urgencies like Mom, is there any popcorn? or Honey, where are the Band-Aids? or May I please speak with Tamara (mispronounced) Sellman?

As for interruptions, they come no matter where you go as a writer (at least they do for me), but I appreciate the ones out in public because:

a/I like to see my friends and I won’t see them at home unless I make arrangements, and then I have to clean up my house;

b/interruptions have become my reminder to stretch my spine, breathe and look across the room to save my eyes—things I always forget to do at home;

c/a friendly face is still better than a knock on the door from the UPS guy in need of a signature; and

d/when the DSL is down or the power is out, one coffeeshop or another on the rock I live on is usually up and running.

I suppose we could all hang out at bars, but I wouldn’t know. Probably, there are many Hemingways in earnest of repeating that legacy, but I’m not one of them. Drinking alcohol while writing makes my brain go fuzzy, while drinking coffee helps me to avoid the sometimes-problem I have of face-planting into my keyboard from sheer exhaustion during deadlines.

(Still, I finished my first NaNoWriMo novel at a bar in November 2006. Even then, all I drank was iced tea. I was there for the soup.)

So what exactly does a writer get done at a coffeehouse? Some writers generate new work on their manuscripts. Some writers just go there to check email, treating the space as a kind of office away from home so that their home office is only used for writing. Some writers take printouts of drafts and revise the old-fashioned way, with ink and sticky notes. Some writers spend their time doing web research or reading source materials. Some writers interview experts who correspond in some way with their works in progress. Many writers meet with many other writers just to hobnob (which isn’t a waste of time; without our own personal support systems to interact with, we’d all be goners).

I have been known to do all of these things, and I know I’m not alone. Neither am I alone in my rotation habits: I spread myself between coffeehouses frequently. Many of us do. It’s done to spread our coffee dollars across the java-drinking landscape, for sure, but also to change up the “workplace” scenery, to sample different seating environments (this really helps with back problems), and to try not to look like a freeloader (I mean, one cup of coffee spread across 2-3 hours every single day might give you a reputation with the staff as the guest who wouldn’t leave). I also try to work around rush periods so the wait staff (when there is one) can keep their seats open for the breakfast and lunch crowds.

So let’s hear it for the all-American corner cafe. During times of economic downturn, why not grab a cuppa joe at the one in your neck of the woods and show your support? After all, they’ve been keeping the writing life cozy and caffeinated forever.

Original images: “Pegasus Coffeehouse,” “Blue Ocean Cafe windowfront,” and “Bainbridge Bakers Esoterica” © 2009, Tamara Kaye Sellman. All Rights Reserved.