Where not to write
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There are oceans of guidance advising budding writers on how to write. What I found as far more difficult, when starting out contributing to this site, was where to write. What environment best facilitates the birth of content? Surely just my bedroom is too pedestrian? I’m a writer now. I need a ‘space’. Here, I share this pathetically negligible journey of misplaced over-concern and vexatious self-consciousness.
First, I tried a cafe. I say cafe. What I mean is a high-street chain coffee conglomerate. The idea behind this was conjuring up images of new-age, metropolitan scribes whipping up bestsellers over reasonably priced mochaccinos. A J. K. Rowling sort of vibe. Perhaps my creative juices would be stirred by huge windows allowing comprehensive vantages over the whole of humankind bustling past. Perhaps my cheap pot of tea would invoke homely comforts and relax my apperception to lazily massage out the discursive brilliance of riposting rhetoric.
As it turned out, the tea was £4 and the window looked out onto a dilapidated bus stop. Adding to this was the overwhelming sense that I was acting like every try-hard millennial who owns a laptop and a overblown estimation of their works significance. I moved on.
I found myself in a pub. Reclining against the peeling wallpaper, engaging in easy patter with a visibly perplexed barmaid while sipping on a thick golden ale. Rarely have I found myself more relaxed in a public environment, which says a lot about my character. Here I found my writing bounced out easily and word-count increased far faster than the froth line of my pint fell.
At the end of the day, though, I was still some dude drinking at 1pm in the afternoon.
On the train, I thought I may assimilate the sensation of transition and incorporate that into a piece of change. The notion of imbalance would come through and produce an article infused with unpredictability and danger.
In the end, I just ended up fretting that the girl on the adjacent seat was judging my work-in-progress and sheepishly putting my laptop away.
If we’ve learned anything on this journey… I really hope it isn’t ‘just go to the pub’.