I think I might write sometimes about my MFA work. Will that be OK? I know you come here for her:
and this one, too:
Oops! Busted! I read InStyle while Hadley does her homework. Sorry. I’m finding those different colored skinny jeans so intriguing right now.
But today I want to tell you about where I go to do my writing. Most days I am at my desk and I look out my window and watch the leaves outside when I don’t know what to write next. But I have a (wonderful) babysitter that comes over twice a week and that’s when I need to take my writing with me. So I go to a nearby Starbucks.
I was going to the same one for a couple of years, and I grew quite attached to it, but it has grown increasingly crowded and the people there don’t want to be quiet. They want to talk loudly, and talk loudly they do. Because of this dilemma I needed to find another place to work, and I can’t write without coffee so I needed to find another Starbucks. This is the one I want to tell you about.
There’s plenty of space to sit, people there are generally quiet (except for a few who talk to themselves but as long as they’re quiet, we’re all good), and last week one of the baristas brought in a huge bouquet of yellow daisies into work with him. He filled up several plastic Starbucks cups with water, split the bouquet up, then walked around the store putting daisy filled cups on each table.
Isn’t that lovely? Almost everyone who walked in stopped because the yellow from the flowers just popped them in the face. It was as though they were thinking, “Grande nonfat mocha upside down espresso with cinnamon ” and then, “Oh yes! I need some of that yellow sunshine happiness too!” And guess what? It’s free!
Sometimes when I’m writing a friend of mine comes in for coffee with her kids because she takes them to a rec class next door. While she orders, I play peek-a-boo with her boys and then we chat for a bit. Other times, the grocery clerks from the Giant come in and talk with the baristas while waiting for their drink. A group of women usually come in mid-morning, their workout clothes damp from taking Jazzercise. (Did you know Jazzercise has its own building? I didn’t and I’d like to tell you a secret: I’m love Jazzercise. But perhaps that’s a post for another day.)
If I go to write in the evenings the barista always says, “You’re gonna be here awhile, right? I can put your coffee in a mug for you.” I tell him that would be great and he hands me a mug with a “G” imprinted on the handle. I love coffee in a mug.
Last week the coffee was still brewing so he asked me what it is I do while I’m there.
“I’m a graduate student,” I told him. “I’m working on my MFA in Creative Writing.” Oh, the pride, people. I’m not going to lie and say I was humble when I had the opportunity to say outloud, “I’m studying to be a WRITER!”
He asked me what my area of study was and I told him Creative Nonfiction. This is a relatively new genre so I add, “You know, tell the truth but tell it slant?” It’s a great line, and often, it produces mischievous grins because those who understand it know the many opportunities there are in telling the truth.
I love this little spot and what’s funny is that I didn’t know about it until a few months ago. It’s been here the whole time we’ve lived here, just blocks away, maybe waiting for me to find it.
And I feel right at home here. Sitting with my neighbors and admiring the daisies.
Your blog post showed up in my Google Reader feed right after this post:
http://deeperstory.com/17-12-by-17-12/
Writing about writing must be in the air today. 🙂
PS: one of the things I miss most about working full-time is my daily Starbucks fix. Coffee at home just isn’t the same.
There is something about having coffee with others even though you’re not talking to them that I love. Perhaps there is a communion in it? I don’t know. Maybe that’s a post someday.
What a great post! Thank for sharing it with me. I love the title of that blog.
Ahhh… writing in a cafe, how wonderful. I can bear down and focus more for all the buzz around me. But no laptop for me. It’s gotta be pen on paper, you know why? So I can lean back or forward or sideways. And so I can scribble and cluster and mappit and even rip it out and chuckit. Anyway, nice post, Callie, as usual. You’re the mistress of the commonplace made masterpiece.
PJ, it is WONDERFUL to know someone else uses pen and paper instead of a computer for drafting and writing and scribbling. Except for blogging, that’s the only way I’ll write. I love pens and paper.
And thank you for the kind comment – “commonplace made masterpiece.” I like that.
Perhaps I could write something meaningful if I were in that environment, although I’m certain that I’d be distracted thinking about those little girls. Very nice post.
Well, perhaps you would use that distraction to write about those little girls. We writers use whatever we have to get it down on paper, you know.
Sounds like a lovely place to work.
It’s great to discover such spots right in one’s neighborhood. It reminds me of the “tucked away” park we found nearby – after we’d lived here a year.
It’s the spots that I find after living here for a time that are sweetly surprising. It makes me glad for staying.
Callie, I beg of you not to fall victim to turquoise colored jeans.
And then I beg of you to write on this blog more.
Okay, let’s review. Fewer blinding shades of unnatural color on your pants.
More blog posts.
Thanks. 🙂
You crack me up! But, oh! Turquoise colored jeans! Hmmmm…..What if I wrote more posts while WEARING the jeans? 🙂
Mmm, now I want a pumpkin spice latte and and some funky pens… One of these days I should try going to our local coffee shop to write. I’ve never actually tried it! (And extra benefit… I wouldn’t have to wash up the dishes when I was done!)
I love that you used “tell it slant” to the barista! I want to know his reaction. I’ve never been able to write in a cafe.
I use that phrase all the time and sometimes people politely nod and sometimes they look like they understand. This guy looked at me like I was a genius but maybe I was just wearing a cute outfit. 🙂