Where do you write? Starbucks (Starbuckses?) are a personal favorite writing location, particularly the one pictured. However, I feel like a fraud, trying to claim I have a singularly special spot where I write. A tidy answer of a tidy space where I write ideas in a way that’s also tidy. Because I have none of those things. I write wherever I can prop up my computer, although preferably somewhere with internet so I can find that pesky perfect word that eludes my fingers as they dash across the keyboard. Perhaps that’s what I should have pictured- my computer. By now, my fingers are perfectly attuned to my sassy little ASUS laptop and clumsily mis-step on any other keyboard even though they’re perfectly graceful on their home turf (home keys?). But even my computer isn’t the just-right answer, because I’ll have an idea and type it up on my phone (usually at the most inconvenient time, like three in the morning. Thanks, brain.) and email it to myself. I’ll sketch essay outlines and reflection ideas on any piece of paper unlucky enough to be near me when inspiration strikes. If there’s a method to my madness, I’m unaware of it. But I suppose I can stand beside my claim that Starbucks are my writing space because when I really need to hunker down and make myself write, I go to a Starbucks, order enough caffeine to energize an elephant, and type for hours. Drafts usually started out somewhere else, stitched together in those fleeting moments between classes, jobs, and other obligations. I’ll tinker over the course of a few days with all the focus of Dug from Disney’s Up (squirrel!) until I have something that resembles an essay, waiting to be revised into something (hopefully) worth reading. This act of revising into a real paper is when I sit down and write and really pretend to know what I’m doing… often at a Starbucks. Perhaps you’re wondering why I chose a Stephen quote about reading and writing when I’m talking about where I write. (Perhaps you didn’t notice the quote, or perhaps you simply don’t care. Those are fair, too, but I’ve already decided to explain. Disinterested readers have my blessing to call this post finished right here.) Whenever I write, I usually have books or articles beside me, dogeared and written in (articles usually covered in my colorful notes and notations, my books a little more gently loved), made into tools for the task at hand. And as hard as it is to answer where I write, it’s easy compared to trying to choose a picture for where I read. I read anywhere there’s something to read and light to read by- sitting in the hall on the floor between classes, in the church when it’s empty, on my couch by sunlight or lamp-light, in my bathtub, in the car, at the library- I’m not going to pretend there’s a location that is my “reading place.” The whole world is my reading place. Week 7, unnumbered blog post, "From the Writer's Desk"
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AuthorI'm a high school English teacher looking to share with students, parents, and peers some of what I'm learning in the classroom as a teacher. Archives
October 2018
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