No time like the present for a road trip…God knows they could still use the tourist dollars. There’s still parts of the city that look like they did the day after Katrina. Though the Quarter is back to its old self, thankfully.

Viva Cafe DuMonde — the only place my wife allows me to go in New Orleans, though I haven’t been there in about five years.

Sadly, nothing lasts forever. I’m now in the middle of nowhere in Central FL, and I still don’t own a car. Going to a coffee house is a real rarity these days.

Thanks for the memories!

What a wonderful article! I really enjoyed reading it.

Seriously, I don’t understand the whole “if you don’t write in a cave, you’re not a real writer” mentality.

I was in San Francisco recently and happily returned to my favorite gay male biker bar… which is where I did some of my best writing when I lived there.

At home, I sometimes write in my closet.

Generally, I do my “billable” work in bed. In pajamas. Usually without showering first. And I don’t care which clients know it.

Or sometimes I stroll down to the train station, where there is a wireless internet connection and expensive coffee. It’s like Starbucks, but for bumfuck suburbian folk like me who don’t drive and don’t feel like training it into the city — a process that takes an hour.

I fully subscribe to the theory that anyone who has nothing better to do than sit around wondering/judging who is a “real writer” probably has some bigger issues than I do. And I’m pretty friggen crazy. So that’s saying a lot.

Good for you for staying at home with your kid. I don’t have kids at home, but I like to think that if I did I would want to be with them. And I’d also like to think I was allowed to drink whatever kind of coffee I wanted with or without my laptop in tow. So rock on Rhonda.

If I were there now, I’d probably plop down on the side of the road in the streets of Caruaru and write about all the amazing people there after I sought out the friends I made the first time around.

@ the other Lori: I don’t think I’ve read any of your stuff about writers in coffeehouses. I read an article about it in a literary magazine (which was funny and did make me laugh) about such people not being real writers, then soon after I read something somewhere else where someone was complaining about the same thing. It just goes to show you often can’t judge motives by just what you see (or don’t see).

There could be people who think all you and your friend do is just talk about writing in the coffeehouse, when that isn’t the case at all.

Thanks for reading the post.

Add in a husband who has no concept of “alone time”, and I have to get out of the house to write! Or, kick him out for a few hours. I’ve made a lot more progress on my WIP since I began frequenting local coffee houses, as well as giving me a taste of the world outside of home and the day job.

I work in coffeehouses occasionally. Moreover, I grab a laptop, a lawn chair and head to the park. But I work. If I can’t work, there’s no point. It’s a quiet place away from the phone. It’s not a place to gather and talk poetry or argue style points in loud tones so as to impress the passersby. It’s a place to get something done without interruption. )

I would be tempted to ask you about your writing if I saw you typing away.

Rich

I used to go to Panera’s all the time, but I never took my lap top. I always wrote with a pen and notebook there.

I don’t particularly like Starbucks, either. Unfortunately, it’s better than one of the other coffee shops in my town (of course, this town is riddled with coffee shops, so it’s kind of a moot point).
I think the coffee is weak and I can make it (much) better at home. I do like going to the coffee shops, though… relaxing.

I just read a funny book about screenwriting and Starbucks (Chris Ver Wiel’s STARBUCKS NATION) and have to say it was refreshing to see that my thoughts on Starbucks fall in line with the authors. My brother swears by their coffee, but I find my Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and my cappucino/espresso machine here (one I paid $30 for at Walmart) do the job for me!