The Joys of Coffee Shop Writing

As a professor of English, I often teach first-year writing courses to freshman students. For many of these students, writing is not enjoyable, or something they feel they are good at. So we spend a lot of time working on their writing process. I focus on helping them develop good writing habits to make the chore of writing less stressful and more efficient.

Most students are startled when I start the discussion of the writing process by asking them when and where they write, and when and where they would prefer to write. “Where do you think best?” I ask them. Most have to write when they get a chance: between classes, at night before bed, during breaks at work—places that are not conducive to thinking well. I encourage them to be more aware of where they write and make a conscious choice to write when and where they can think best. We talk about this a lot, well before I even start talking about putting pen to paper (or fingers on keyboards).

I tell my students I am a writer. I am an academic writer as well as a writer of fiction. I’ve been writing since I was about six. I started writing novels in my teens. I have a Bachelor’s and Master’s in English and a PhD in rhetoric, with focuses in rhetorical theory, environmental writing and ecocriticism, and speculative fiction. I’ve been teaching writing at the college level since 2003 (minus two years between my Master’s and PhD studies) and publishing novels since 2017. My point with all this is I’m a writer first and foremost.

With all that said (again, because I’m a writer and we have to tell a story before we can tell a story), let me talk about where and when I think best.

I love to write at a coffee shop. I love it from the bottom of my soul.

A caveat: everyone’s brains work differently. Some people prefer silence. Others like a lot of background noise. Some like to write to music; others to TV or movies in the background. Some can’t think if it’s not quiet. Some like to write outside, some inside at a table or on the couch. Some have dedicated offices; others grab a few minutes wherever they can. The point is to find out where YOU think best and commit to writing there as often as you can. Make it a priority. It’s perhaps one of the best gifts you can give yourself if you are a creative person.

And don’t be afraid to experiment with your creative environment. Try a different type of music. Sit by the window. Open the curtains. Close the curtains. Sit on a couch. Sit at a table. Stand at a table. Go to the park. Even if you think you’ve found your perfect place to create, try new twists.

I used to write to classical music. Then I discovered I loved to write to movie scores (the instrumental music composed for films). One day as I was sitting at a table in a coffee shop working on my dissertation with my brilliant friend Adrienne and noticed her nodding her head a bit in time with the music playing in her earbuds, I asked what she was listening to. She introduced me to EDM music, and I fell in love with writing to Daft Punk, Bassnectar, The Glitch Mob, Avicii, Tiesto, deadmau5, Flux Pavilion, David Guetta, Calvin Harris, and others. There’s something about the steady BPM, the lack of distracting lyrics, and the upbeat, catchy rhythms that makes my fingers fly across the keyboard. And I bet you’d never have guessed that I frequently write to EDM! I’ve branched out to other genres like chillhop and triphop, and now I even write to classic rock, when I used to not be able to write anything with lyrics.

My point is: if you never try new things when it comes to your creative environment, you may be doing yourself a major disservice. Just because something’s working fine doesn’t mean it can’t be improved! And if you find out this new thing doesn’t work, you can always go back.

Okay, seriously, no more digressions…now to coffee shops.

What is so magical about writing at a coffee shop? It’s kind of a cliché, isn’t it? The writer at the coffee shop has launched a thousand comics like this one:

and even one of my favorite Family Guy cutaway scenes.

Speaking for myself, a coffee shop checks a lot of boxes for me. I like ambient background noise and a coffee shop has the perfect blend (ha! See what I did there?) of noise for me: coffee grinders, milk steamers and frothers, murmuring voices, clinking of cups and silverware…aaahhhh. I get a Zen feeling just thinking about it. (IYKYK.)

And I’m lucky to be able to write a coffee shop that’s also a used bookstore! So I get to be surrounded by beautiful shelves of well-loved books awaiting their next reader. I’ve always thought well surrounded by books, as if the stories around me put more oxygen into the air and feed my brain words.

Coffee shops typically have a variety of seating options, perfect for those who like to write at a table, or those (like me) who like to write sitting on a comfy couch. Coffee shop employees tend to be the sort of people I’d hang out with socially—often kinda nerdy, into a lot of the same esoteric things I like, with edgy haircuts and a deep appreciation for weirdness. And coffee shops often serve as gathering places for readers, writers, creatives, and oddballs, who all contribute to that amazing atmosphere that seems to soak into the furniture and welcome you like a hug the moment you walk through the door.

Coffee shops, for a lot of reasons, can feel like a second home, and not just because as a writer you spend a lot of time there. (And I speak mainly of little local shops rather than big national chains, with mass-produced furniture and plenty of outlets while often short on atmosphere.) I like mismatched mugs and glasses, secondhand furniture, scuffed tables, and worn couches.

I settle in with my coffee, travel jug of water, a pastry, my earbuds, and my MacBook Air, and sigh contentedly. I am here to think, to create. To drink coffee and turn caffeine and atmosphere into words, paragraphs, and chapters. I am a magician who conjures books from research, coffee, and imagination. My workshop is a coffee shop. It’s a magical, wondrous, wonderful place.

My writing setup at my beloved The Full Cup Books & Coffee in Weatherford, Texas. If you look closely, you can see an early draft of Heart of Shadows (Alice Worth Book 5)!

I’ve written all my Alice Worth books and stories at The Full Cup Books & Coffee in Weatherford, Texas. Owned by two friends, Bridget and Jennifer, The Full Cup is like my second home. And though I’ve certainly written at other coffee shops when I’m traveling or visiting family and friends, I owe so much of my creativity to that shop and its wonderful, welcoming atmosphere. Thank you, Bridget and Jennifer, for creating such a beautiful refuge for us. You have no idea how grateful we all are.