I said that I don’t particularly enjoy commenting on restaurants (being a vegan and a non-professional food critic and all). Nor do I feel myself particularly qualified to comment holistically on the New York experience just yet. That said, this blog is meant to target a very specific and discerning clientele of writers, so let me address something that many of us wonder about as we wake up in the morning and decide to migrate for the sake of our craft.
Where to write?
During my many – many – trial-and-error attempts over the past few months, I’ve finally hit some wins (i.e. finished stories – not necessarily publication-finished stories). And in the course of this experience, I’ve found a few criteria by which I judge the places where to work.
1. Not always your couch
The NYTimes once published a study on the effects of place on diet. Basically, scientists have found that your brain behaves based on what it sees. Ergo, if you’re used to eating everything in sight when you’re in a certain room, it will prompt you to do just that while you remain in that room, regardless of your actual hunger level. Sometimes all it takes to break a bad eating habit, therefore, is a change in furniture arrangements, or a move from your eating-prone desk chair to the couch.
I apply this same concept to writing. My couch tends to be my resting place, where I often talk on the phone, surf the Internet, watch Netflix, and yes, eat. As a result, it’s a great blogging place and a good place for online research. Less good, however, for powering through that all-important first draft for a creative piece. If your couch has the same associations for you – scatter-brained laziness, followed by overeating – I suggest you move yourself to a coffee shop or other public establishment.
2. Background noise
It offers a pleasant distraction from the grunt work and brain-cell-bending effort writing can require. And sometimes it’s just plain necessary to shut out the hum of competing thoughts. This noise shouldn’t be overwhelming, for sure, nor should it drown out your thoughts completely. However, a good amount of hubbub, pleasant tunes, and people-watching opportunities tend to stoke the creative juices when your private home isn’t cutting it.
3. Lyrics-free music
You need background noise, but you don’t want words when you are trying to arrange words of your own. I don’t know about you, but a song with bad lyrics puts me in a sour mood, a new song with good lyrics makes me tune in and forget to write, and a known song with good lyrics makes my brain start to sing along. As much as I love their poetry, I don’t want (or expect) Death Cab for Cutie to dictate my next story. So, I opt for some lovely Buddha Bar or Hotel Costes type stuff – mostly instrumental – or something tuned so low that you can’t hear the lyrics above the guitar.
4. No “free wi-fi”
You don’t need the Internet when you’re writing. You really don’t. It’s called a research draft, that piece you produce with question marks and notes-to-self in spots where you need to dig into cephalopodic reproductive habits or what year it was that Andy Warhol died. But while you’re getting through your first draft, or revising the plot line, or chiseling your sentences and paragraphs, about the worst thing you could do to yourself is have your browser window open. The Internet distracts. That’s why there’s a new, writer-oriented application called Freedom which will literally shut down your Internet for you and not allow you to reconnect unless you restart your computer.
4. Comfortable seating
When I write, I get antsy. It takes me about an hour to get into that writing-perfect mood, and it takes about ten seconds for my thoughts to stray if I see something shiny. It doesn’t help if my legs are getting tired from sitting in an uncomfortable chair, or if my computer has nowhere to rest but my lap (hence heating my legs to a glorious cooking temperature), or if my battery dies. So find a place with a good number of outlets, and with chairs that aren’t meant to chase laptop-wielding customers after a back-injuring thirty minutes.
While you’re at it, you may want to consider putting on yoga pants or something of that sort, so you can sit cross-legged… Or maybe that’s just me. But I swear, sitting in a yoga-like position really does put my brain in a zen-ny space.
5. Good treats
Writing and food are connected, as are food and writing. Someone chatted with me the other day about the fact that as a writer, you’re using all six of your senses (that’s right, six). As a result, hearing, seeing, tasting, etc. are all accentuated when you’re crafting something out of words and phrases. You’ll get hungry, and you will need to eat. Pick a place that can provide both something savory and something sweet, both a cold drink and a warm one. If you’re vegan like me, don’t go to a macaroon place, even if it’s empty and adorable to sit in. Within ten minutes, I was salivating for a (cream-containing) macaroon and had to leave in search of a vegan cookie.
So, after all of this in-depth analysis, where is it that I’ve been writing recently?
Aside from my couch at two in the morning, I’m typically found at Argo Tea in the Flatiron building on 23rd and Broadway. It’s the absolute perfect combination of, basically, everything listed above: There are people-watching opportunities, but usually enough desks to accommodate a laptop-wielding wanderer. The soundtrack is not too loud, and instrumental with the occasional Brazilian bossa melody. The desks are so awesome that some even have outlets embedded in them (yes), and there are both chairs and armchairs, between which I usually hop if I’m in it for the long run and get tired. And finally, the menu – a gorgeous assortment of drinks, soy and almond milk on hand (tasting better than the gross Starbucks kind), a variety of healthy salads, and vegan muffins. Every. Single. Day
