Today I am enjoying the pleasure of writing at my favorite neighborhood cafe (Mission Creek on Valencia in SF. Word.) As I am getting my write-on, my brain tingling to the caffeine/fuel, looking at my fellow cafe goers, I am recalling a few passages scattered across various writing how-to books and blogs floating around in the mental miasma I call my brain.
The advice, for me, boils down to:
Buy something. Seriously. Doesn’t have to be much, but (for me) a couple bucks an hour in purchases seems not to small an amount to ask. You are basically renting a table, and rent means pay.
However, there is an interesting exception. If the cafe is not overfull, it does help to have some folks sitting around, busily enjoying their activities. It makes the place look more popular, and sucks passers-by in.
Somewhere in their is a balance, but a cheap cup of coffee, and the willingness to vacate your place in favor of a customer looking to buy a meal if the place is packed, feels about right to me.
Your mileage had damn well better vary, and I’d love to hear about it.
Cheers!
With one minute to spare, I won the National Novel Writing Month for the third year running. I crossed the line one minute before the midnight deadline, with a first draft of Special Delivery, with a word count of 50,068.
