« It's raining | Main | Rock-a-bye baby… »
January 23, 2008
Working in Cafés
Went to the café to do some writing today and ended up writing about going to the café to do writing. It all got rather surreal.
I like to work in cafés, a lot of people like to work in cafés - writers mainly it has to be said, sculpture tends to upset the other customers, bits of granite flopping into their cappuccinos, it puts them off. Why do writers like to work in cafés?
They say it’s for the atmosphere, the soaking up of casual dialogue, the verisimilitude if you like. Well that’s not it. It’s not the coffee either, I can get that in the studio. Nor is it just because it’s warm – it’s often warmer in the studio. There are fewer distractions, certainly and, yes, it’s very nice having someone bring you the coffee. But I think the real reason why writers like working in cafés is because it’s like school.
It’s familiar and strangely comforting, it’s a proper setting for writing. Sitting at a small desk with all your clutter, in rows of other small desks with people sitting at them. Like school you can’t get up and wander about, you have to sit at your desk and work. There are some writers that even write by hand in textbooks. I rest my case.
That and the fact that there are other people watching you, or at least aware of you, so you can’t stare into space for too long without attracting the wrong sort of attention, nor can you doze off. As if the waitress is the teacher, though we could get into all sorts of tricky psychological scenarios here if we’re not careful.
So you come back from the café having done a whole heap of work and you think cafés are a good idea. And they are. But they’re not for every stage of a project. There are some stages where wandering around tapping things is an essential part of the creative process.
Posted by john at January 23, 2008 11:57 PM