Writing in Coffee Shops: C/D?

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Is it a way to force yourself to get something done by being in public, albeit a cozy and relatively literate atmosphere? Or does just make you look really pretentious? I've done it a few times when I absolutely needed to get something accomplished but felt claustrophobic in my apartment. But it's such a cliche; I felt vaguely guilty about it.

― Prude (Prude), Monday, 18 August 2003 02:45 (twenty-two years ago)

As for me, I'll say a qualified dud. But here as in so many cases Too Much Coffee Man sums it up nicely:

http://www.tmcm.com/comics/066_fools.gif

― Prude (Prude), Monday, 18 August 2003 02:46 (twenty-two years ago)

i do a lot of writing in coffee shops. these days a good chunk of it even ends up in print (and then my belly or my roof.) so classic, i guess.

― strongo hulkington (dubplatestyle), Monday, 18 August 2003 02:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Garsh, that's big... Sorry.

― Prude (Prude), Monday, 18 August 2003 02:49 (twenty-two years ago)

jess: you eat your writing?

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 18 August 2003 02:50 (twenty-two years ago)

did a lot of it in dunedin ($1 refills in Governors + this being dunedin almost everyone would have to walk past at some point); + in the surprisingly frequent case of being locked out of my flat/hall/etc I'd end up spending the night scribbling stuff on the back of flyers in Passion. sometimes m4rc3l & I would read/write for hours-on-end in the armchairs @ Arc, too.

can't afford Ak coffee + the cafes are way too chattery; bah.

(haha a lot of my good writing has been done while lying on my back in toilet cubicles, wtf?)

― Ess Kay (esskay), Monday, 18 August 2003 02:53 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't write well by pen, I don't have a laptop and am too old-fashioned to cotton to their keyboards, and I'd end up having to get up to smoke all the time ... so dud for me, by and large. If I'm stuck somewhere for a bit I'll usually take the notebook out and write a scene or outline whatever I plan to do that night, but it goes so sloooow.

― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 18 August 2003 02:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Hey, Prude, it worked out pretty well for J.K. Rowling.

Usually I write on the computer but sometimes I have to get away from it (and out of the apartment) and then I write in a coffee shop other than the one where I work (and where, praise Jesus, I will NOT be working after Tuesday). But I usually only write a page or less and it's really just a way to kick start my brain, which tends to freeze up if I've been staring at the monitor too long.

― jewelly (jewelly), Monday, 18 August 2003 03:13 (twenty-two years ago)

A) I friggin LURV Too Much Coffee Man...shit, I subscribed!

B) Sometimes writing in coffee shops works out really nice. Sometimes, it's parks or on precipices overlooking big valleys or at your kitchen table that you write shit you really feel. Sometimes you're in settings like this and nothing happens. Just always be ready for whenever and wherever the words drop into yr brain, y'know?

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 18 August 2003 06:07 (twenty-two years ago)

there are no coffee places nearby, but i feel like this would be useful. the question: how far do people go for good writing environments?

― Dave M. (rotten03), Monday, 18 August 2003 08:33 (twenty-two years ago)

DV and i were writing our postcards in a coffee shop in San Francisco once, and some guy kept helpfully shouting rude things for us to write on our postcards. so DUD in that instance.

however, CLASSIC if you're sitting on your own and are feeling a bit self-conscious.

― rener (rener), Monday, 18 August 2003 08:45 (twenty-two years ago)

Right now, ultra-classic because my usual coffee haunt has air conditioning and wireless net access

― Chris Barrus (Chris Barrus), Monday, 18 August 2003 10:13 (twenty-two years ago)

But what about when you have to get up to get some more coffee, do you just leave your stuff on the table? If so, arent you worried it might be stolen, or am I just a pessimist?

― Pinkpanther (Pinkpanther), Monday, 18 August 2003 10:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Coffee shops are notorious lairs for opportunist thieves. Surely you can't write and watch your stuff at the same time?

― gobemouche, Monday, 18 August 2003 10:22 (twenty-two years ago)

What Pinky said there made me think about like you get up and go get some coffee and come back and catch Damon Albarn copying whatever you just wrote into a little black book and getting this "BUSTED!" look on his face and going "yoink!" and taking off and then you hear it on their next album.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 18 August 2003 11:34 (twenty-two years ago)

I have written a fair bit of stuff in pubs.

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 18 August 2003 11:37 (twenty-two years ago)

Damon Albarn: so easy to kick in the arse. If, as I did, you have the opportunity to do this, GO FOR IT.

― suzy (suzy), Monday, 18 August 2003 11:37 (twenty-two years ago)

I've done research writing in coffee shops. My problem is that I love coffee, but have real problems with caffeine, so I can't ever have more than one cup (which would be doubly annoying if refills existed in England). But if you can find a friendly, local, privately owned place (like Ground in Jersey City, say) where they're happy for you to sit there all day and not buy much, then get the hell in there now. Marvelous.

― Mark C (Mark C), Monday, 18 August 2003 11:40 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm sure I could manage, and so long as the coffee isn't BLACK it's probably not too pretentious to be doing w/, but honestly could someone tell me what I should be writing about?

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Monday, 18 August 2003 11:50 (twenty-two years ago)

Writing in coffee shops that are located in bookstores = triple dud.

― gobemouche, Monday, 18 August 2003 12:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd say classic if you're writing anywhere, even in coffee shops, just as long as you're getting it done. Ultra-dud: The guy in coffee shops that is always talking about writing but never actually sets pen to paper.

― Dale the Titled (cprek), Monday, 18 August 2003 12:16 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah someone should tell him what to write about

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Monday, 18 August 2003 12:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, go on, tell me then.

― Mark C (Mark C), Monday, 18 August 2003 12:31 (twenty-two years ago)

Neither inherently classic nor dud. Attitude is all.

― Archel (Archel), Monday, 18 August 2003 12:31 (twenty-two years ago)

it's not like there's any other public space left in this fucking country. should I sit at a bus stop? the food court at the mall?

― g--ff c-nn-n (gcannon), Monday, 18 August 2003 12:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Or the library?

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Monday, 18 August 2003 12:41 (twenty-two years ago)

The food court.

― David. (Cozen), Monday, 18 August 2003 12:43 (twenty-two years ago)

I've written some Ok letters on the bus itself

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Monday, 18 August 2003 12:44 (twenty-two years ago)

A Moleskin notebook is U&K for this palaver I think. Here's a man, on this subject (with a little note about stationery thrown in for good measure):

"Time for a quick word about ... stationery. Most poets are fetishistic about paper and pens, and for a while I couldn't write on anything but grey Daler A5 sketchbooks with a Pilot Hi-Tecpoint V5 extra-fine rollerball. Now it's a Psion Series 5, but it amounts to the same thing. It's taken me a pathetically long time to realise that the transcendental joy of poetry isn't getting your book published, reading to an audience of deeply-moved young women, getting your face on the box, winning a prize or anything else - it's the business of composition that blows you away, and the more you can do to savour it, the better. I think it's important to pay attention to those little ritualistic details which serve to put you in a receptive state of mind - even just the purchase of stationery is enough to do that for me, pathetic as it may seem. I often go to cafes to write; in fact the greater the extraneous racket the better I can often concentrate. Even McDonald's suits me just great. Libraries are bloody useless, far too quiet, no view, and no way of getting a cup of coffee."

― David. (Cozen), Monday, 18 August 2003 12:53 (twenty-two years ago)

I used to be that way abt Pilot pens. I pace around extensively when writing, so coffee shops and any other public places are dud for me.

― Nathan W (Nathan Webb), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:02 (twenty-two years ago)

EVEN McDonalds? MY GOD he's the voice of the times

― Andrew Thames (Andrew Thames), Monday, 18 August 2003 13:04 (twenty-two years ago)

I write in coffee shops usually once a week. This weekend, I did it twice (thanks, Kopi and Jinx). I find writing longhand, in a notebook, accesses a different thought process than if I were typing at home -- it tends to be more discursive, associative, journal-like. I like to work through ideas this way, and then if I've got something worth fleshing out, I'll go home with it. Coffee shops in particular are good for this because the caffeine gets the mind a-hoppin', and being out-and-about makes me feel like I've done something with my day.

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 18 August 2003 14:10 (twenty-two years ago)

DV and i were writing our postcards in a coffee shop in San Francisco once, and some guy kept helpfully shouting rude things for us to write on our postcards. so DUD in that instance.

Nahh, that's a Classic. I wish I could have been there.

― Christine 'Green Leafy Dragon' Indigo (cindigo), Monday, 18 August 2003 14:14 (twenty-two years ago)

But if you can find a friendly, local, privately owned place (like Ground in Jersey City, say) where they're happy for you to sit there all day and not buy much, then get the hell in there now. Marvelous.

ha ha, welcome to my summer.

― rosemary (rosemary), Monday, 18 August 2003 15:30 (twenty-two years ago)

I like going to coffe shops (for the neat drinks), but If I go by myself what else can I do except take a notepad and write or draw. I don't want to just sip coffee and stare at the wall, or I guess I could read.

― A Nairn (moretap), Monday, 18 August 2003 15:38 (twenty-two years ago)

You hang out in Ground, Z? I liked it there. Times crossword and Uno. Refills (that made my teeth chatter). Sofas.

― Mark C (Mark C), Monday, 18 August 2003 15:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Too bad I don't like their iced tea. I think they are using some bonkers herbal tea for it, or something.

Plus, you forgot, AIR CONDITIONING!

― rosemary (rosemary), Monday, 18 August 2003 15:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah I've spent a big part of the last week at my fav in Lexington called C0mm0n Gr0unds cuz my a/c at home is dead (thanks a lot stupid lightning!)...of course I'm always at C0mm0n Gr0unds a lot, as my bwoy Cprek might attest.

I seriously write whenever wherever. (< /shakira>)Fr'instance, I've got notebooks strategically placed throughout my crib: next to the bed (the dream-dominated one), in my kitchen, in the music room, even by the shittah!

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 18 August 2003 15:47 (twenty-two years ago)

Actually ,the very best thing about Ground was last month they had a kitten. It was soooooooooo cute.

― rosemary (rosemary), Monday, 18 August 2003 15:53 (twenty-two years ago)

no no christine, it was AWFUL because he kept on doing it!

HIM: Hey, you know what you should write? You should write "I wiped my ass with this postcard and then pissed on it!" ha ha ha!
US: ha ha. (continue writing)
HIM: (seeing new postcard being written) Hey, you know what you should write on that one? "Fuck you"! ha ha haaa!
US: *uh oh*
HIM: I know what you should write - you should write "I stuck this postcard up my ass before sending it"! hur hur hurrrr.
US: *please go away*
HIM: I'll tell ya what you should write ... (etc)

actually, you're right, it was pretty classic in its way.

― rener (rener), Monday, 18 August 2003 15:53 (twenty-two years ago)

This is an interesting subject, I think. There is on the one hand the fact that it may be a place you are very comfortable, and an entirely natural place to relax and write, whatever kind of thing. On the other hand, we are rarely in public and entirely oblivious to the impression we might be giving to others. There are a whole range of reactions that people might have to someone writing in a coffee shop/cafe/bar/etc., and while we would like to think everyone will see us as interesting and intellectual and maybe poetic, we know there are negative reactions too. (I was thinking vaguely about some of this when I popped in the British Museum one lunchtime. I thought I might write something about what I found in the new location for Japanese stuff, so made some notes in my notebook, and I was sort of 5% wondering what impression that might make. A balding middle aged man in a cheap suit can hardly look terribly bohemian and poetic, I think.)

― Martin Skidmore (Martin Skidmore), Monday, 18 August 2003 20:00 (twenty-two years ago)

That's mostly how I feel, Martin. Most people I see writing in coffee shops don't actually look poetic, but rather look like they're trying to look poetic. And of course I worry that I'll look the same. Like I said before, it just seems like a cliched thing to do. As Mark C said, it depends on the place. I not only worry that other patrons think I'm a pretentious twerp but that the staff resents me for only having bought one hot chocolate all night. (I don't even drink coffee!) That self-consciousness can actually prod you into working, though, as I'd much prefer people observe me writing than observe me playing spider solitaire. (This reminds me of the Monty Python sketch about novel-writing as a spectator sport, with Thomas Hardy. "Look like another Tess of the D'urbervilles, folks!")

― Prude (Prude), Monday, 18 August 2003 20:15 (twenty-two years ago)

eleven months pass...

REVIVE!

― Revivalist (Revivalist), Monday, 19 July 2004 11:13 (twenty-one years ago)

seven months pass...

I've been going about three days a week to one coffee shop in my neighborhood to do writing, because I usually work better with activity going on around me. Plus I usually see a fight go on about once per week between a bitchy customer and whoever's working the counter, so that's entertaining.

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Saturday, 5 March 2005 02:39 (twenty years ago)

Is it House of Pies? Because I was there writing yesterday, and a guy that looked like Elvis Costello mumbled under his breath (but loud enough for me to hear) that I crossed my legs like a 'damn pansy'.

― Remy (null) (x Jeremy), Saturday, 5 March 2005 03:35 (twenty years ago)

I keep trying to write in my local bar haunt, but I havent worked out how to hold a pen, a cigarette and a drink and not drop everything or ash in my drink or smoke my pen or whatever. I'm a dork.

― Trayce (trayce), Saturday, 5 March 2005 03:37 (twenty years ago)

Writing, no...READING, that's something else. I love reading at the Gypsy Den, it's to die for.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 5 March 2005 03:43 (twenty years ago)

Sorry you heard me say it, remy.

― Gear! (can Jung shill it, Mu?) (Gear!), Saturday, 5 March 2005 03:49 (twenty years ago)

It's really all about overhearing great conversations.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Saturday, 5 March 2005 04:02 (twenty years ago)

I think I like the idea of writing in coffeeshops more than the actual writing. It always seems like it would be a good thing just because I have such a hard time getting writing done at home, but when it comes down to it, there are just as many distractions at the coffeeshop: people watching, music, running into friends. Plus, my local place now has wifi, so I can't even get away from the interweb. It's all about the library for me if I actually want to get something done quickly.

― the krza (krza), Saturday, 5 March 2005 04:47 (twenty years ago)

nine years pass...

TS: the thousand-yard stare vs looking around vs face in book

― calstars, Monday, 1 September 2014 15:23 (eleven years ago)

Outdoor shops the best IMO

― calstars, Monday, 1 September 2014 15:26 (eleven years ago)

Get 85 percent of my writing at a Starbucks a block away. Having my attention stimulated by watching other people helps me concentrate. I'm here now!

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, 1 September 2014 19:20 (eleven years ago)

i enjoy ignoring people. helps me focus. in private, there's no one to see me not noticing people.

― j., Monday, 1 September 2014 19:22 (eleven years ago)

I like to go to the cafe near my place that has very high tables and write standing up :)

― ODB's missing grammar (bernard snowy), Monday, 1 September 2014 20:21 (eleven years ago)

There was a wonderful cafe where I used to live that had an upstairs area with big windows and tables.. It was the only cafe I've ever found conducive to writing/studying because nobody talked at all, it was like the dedicated stfu lounge. and you could smoke there.

― brimstead, Monday, 1 September 2014 20:57 (eleven years ago)

cannot handle doing serious work in either cramped starbucks or bigass social cafes that more resemble arnold's drivein in atmosphere

― brimstead, Monday, 1 September 2014 20:59 (eleven years ago)

although, as alfred says there is a buzz to be had from the bustle that keeps one's motor running

― brimstead, Monday, 1 September 2014 21:01 (eleven years ago)

lol "stfu lounge" sounds like my kinda place

― SEEMS TO ME (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, 1 September 2014 22:09 (eleven years ago)

hey, alfred: i was just strolling around & walked by a starbucks & - because i am obnoxious - heard myself think, why do people go to starbucks, glimpsing the three or four presentable & shit-together-seeming cosmopolitan patrons & wondering why they hadn't gone to one of the few coffee shops on either side of the place, instead, these seeming to me glossier, maybe even more ~credible~ options, or at least ones with less affiliated baggage. & then i remembered reading you mention starbucks a couple of hours ago & thought i could ask you for the inside scoop. why do you go to starbucks? is it because there isn't another place; or because there is something reassuring about a less precious café experience; or because it's easier to zone out generica; &c&c&c. i used to go to supermarket cafés sometimes, now i am buying $3 coffees, i would be really interested to know what your criteria are for a café you want to work in.

― schlump, Tuesday, 2 September 2014 02:21 (eleven years ago)

In a Miami suburb surrounded on all sides by strip malls and interstate, it's a three-minute bike ride from my place. I got no local joints.

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 2 September 2014 02:36 (eleven years ago)

The precious and delicious local option is a 12-minute car ride east.

― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 2 September 2014 02:36 (eleven years ago)

that's good to know. nice having occasional options.

― schlump, Tuesday, 2 September 2014 02:45 (eleven years ago)

i've been thinking about patronizing the kinda generic non-starbucks regional chain here because they've got a spot that's the closest thing to me, but it just looks so cramped inside i can never bring myself to weigh the cost-benefit on their prices even. so i trudge further down the block to the more credible, other regional chain. but it's one of those places that is too annoyingly full of too many kinds of lingerers, conversants, people on dates, weird neighborhood types, campus types, just far too busy a profile. the kind of place that makes you feel like you should hurry out just because you don't want to be in there with all of them.

― j., Tuesday, 2 September 2014 03:01 (eleven years ago)

Nothing harder than sitting a foot away from someone and trying to concentrate.

― calstars, Tuesday, 2 September 2014 12:06 (eleven years ago)

like a lot of others upthread, I can only really concentrate in a public space. headphones and droney music are necessary though.

― ryan, Tuesday, 2 September 2014 12:40 (eleven years ago)

lol "stfu lounge" sounds like my kinda place

― SEEMS TO ME (VegemiteGrrl), Monday, September 1, 2014 3:09 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://cs315317.vk.me/v315317719/a/3RZDEsAPZEg.jpg

― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Tuesday, 2 September 2014 16:49 (eleven years ago)

no writing allowed in the GTFO Lounge

― Doctor Casino, Tuesday, 2 September 2014 19:14 (eleven years ago)

pointless story: when I lived in houston while working on my phd I was a regular at this one place--usually weekday mornings or early afternoons--along with a lot of other student types. it was a great place because they had a full menu so you could have lunch without having to stop working. anyway, one day I made the mistake of coming in on a Saturday around lunch time. I ordered an ice tea and started in on a book I was reading as the place started to fill up with brunchers. a few minutes later the owner came over to me, stared hard at my iced tea, and asked "can I get you anything?" there was no table service at this place. I gulped down my tea and left after that.

― ryan, Tuesday, 2 September 2014 19:21 (eleven years ago)

spoiled w good doing-work-in-coffee-shop options tbh, one in particular where i sort of know the gay-couple owners and my bf is friends with the entire staff, plus it's bright inside, busy, not too comfortable, classical music always playing, everyone else is also staring into a laptop.

― mattresslessness, Tuesday, 2 September 2014 19:32 (eleven years ago)

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