I am sitting in a café across the road from the beach in Bronte, Sydney. This stretch of road has a whole row of cafes side by side facing the sea. This is my favourite kind of writing place: one where I can sit comfortably for a long period of time and where the owners of the café know me and welcome me. This café is owned by a Brazilian man and his wife and has comfortable upholstered bench chairs with a direct view of the Pacific Ocean.
For my two-hour writing session my choice could be a traditional Brazilian dish such as Coxinha, Feijoda or Moqueca. Or a cocktail like Caipirinha or Caipiroska. I must order something and it must be more that a coffee, because I plan to be here for a long time. I want the owners of the café to know I appreciate the time and the space they are allowing me.
Why go to all this trouble to find a place to write? Why not just stay home and work? Because it’s good to get out and have a change of scene. I find I need to be happy and relaxed when I’m creating on the page and sitting in a café with a pleasant vibe works for me. Other writers need silence in order to concentrate, but I need to feel I am out and about in a beautiful place having a good time before the creative juices flow.
Strangely, working in a café can help to increase concentration. The busy café atmosphere keeps the sensory part of you occupied and content, so that the hidden, quieter part of you that composes and focuses is allowed to do its work. It is something like being cunning when trying to get a spoonful of food into a resistant toddler’s mouth. You pretend to be an aeroplane with all the sound effects and movements before landing the food-laden plane inside the child’s mouth. Mission accomplished.
What about you? Do you need to be at your desk in total silence to write, or do you like to experience the swell of humanity around you—to be surrounded by other human beings? Or in your home office listening to a particular kind of music?
Libby Sommer, Author 
Hi Libby, I love going to my local cafes in Pakington St, Geelong West, and you often find me there with my pen and notebook writing my poems….. xx… (Pocos, Box Office, The Grill, Cafe Depot, and many more I frequent in a gorgeous piece of Geelong…..
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glad to know that you love writing in cafes too. i live in Sydney, so i don’t know your favourite haunts. like you, i find it inspiring to write in a cafe in a beautiful place.
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Here’s a poem/article of my fav’ Cafe, and I wrote this post there
https://wp.me/p6B6QE-259
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Lybby, with a cafe like the one you
show and describe I would feel very free. For me it varies. I have written poetry on long haul flights as the drone and conversations around lulled my everyday thoughts.
Equally I have sat in bed on cold winter mornings or in favourite place in the garden.
As long as we follow what works for us it is right.
Miriam
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absolutely Miriam. couldn’t agree more. as long as we follow what works for us it is right’. wow, that’s amazing you are able to write poetry on long haul flights. don’t think i could do that. i have to be one hundred per cent comfortable and relaxed. like you, i often sit in bed and write. as you say, to repeat myself, whatever works 🙂
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It varies for me, but I do mostly write at home. Generally, sitting in a cafe is too distracting for me because my imagination will wander. Sometimes I’ll park at the beach and write notes on my phone though. Lovely post!
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good to hear from you Paula. parking at the beach and writing notes sounds good to me. yes, if there’s too much noise in a cafe it’s hard to concentrate. writing at home is far less distracting 🙂
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I love to visit cafes. The atmosphere, the smell of coffee, bread and watching people go by can sometimes work for me. But mostly it’s at home that I’m most productive.
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It’s true what you say. Visiting cafes is enjoyable but the ‘real’ work takes place at home at the desk. Thanks so much for commenting.
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