Do you have that dream where you're sitting in a Parisian café, penning your literary novel about a pair of doomed lovers over a café au lait? It's a common dream from writers. Paris. The coffee. The leisure. The people passing you by. I shudder at the thought.
Even in Paris, though I've always wanted to go, I would separate my writing time from my out time.
In fact, I've only written in a café or coffee house twice to date. They were both places I was comfortable with and had known for a long time. It still didn't make me feel any better.
I didn't like the constant distractions around me: People having loud conversations and letting their noisy ringtones interrupt the entire café, the waitresses wondering if you're still doing okay, the terrible feeling I harbor when I order a black coffee and sit on their wi-fi for two hours.
Both times, I was so uncomfortable writing in public that I ended up doing little to no writing at all. I didn't want people to see my 50 page Word Document open and infer I was a writer. Then I'd have to converse. It was almost as bad as the time I was working on my poetry for class in the doctor's office waiting room and (though the entire waiting room was empty) an elderly couple sat right next to me. I had to skirt the line between leaning away so they couldn't see my notebook and not looking like a complete jerk.
So, I have a hard time seeing the benefits of writing in public besides complete necessity (like it's the only place you're not ridiculed for writing or can carve enough time to do so).
Here's my list of benefits:
- It allows you to study those around you (which is especially beneficial if your story is set in the same region you write from)
- It has a romantic ring to it: "Being a writer, writing in a café."
So, I'm going to ask for your help on this one. If you're a writer and you love writing in public spaces. Why? What makes it so beneficial for you? Maybe you can help the solitary writers see the light. Leave a comment please.
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