The First Thing That Came to Mind is Coffee

Daily writing prompt

Jot down the first thing that comes to your mind.

I just ordered some coffee beans from Sweet Maria’s. We drink good coffee in this household — we roast it from green coffee beans and brew it up in a Moccamaster. We have the best coffee in town, or at least the freshest. Which makes me wonder — why do we go out to cafes at all?

Atmosphere. When we go out for coffee, it’s generally to get writing and other creative endeavors done. I could do this at home, but the stimulation isn’t there. Sometimes I need noise and distraction to write. This doesn’t make sense to most people, but anyone with ADHD might understand.

A good cafe has more than good coffee, although I would say that good coffee is the minimum needed for a cafe. A good cafe has to have what is called atmosphere. “Atmosphere” is a nebulous term, but it generally means a space where someone feels comfortable sitting there. Each good cafe treats this differently, with anything from wood tones to aged brick to white and bright.

Haven, our favorite coffee place at the moment, has a variety of comfortable spaces. In the front is the busy section, close to the counter. This is where you’ll hear loud socializing. The other day, two tables were playing Mahjongg. I had never seen real Mahjongg played before. The back has quieter socializing and students with their laptops and books. Off the back room is the small nook with three booths, where Richard and I hole up to write. There is also a meeting room with a big screen and a computer hookup. All the spaces have bright light except for the booths, which have dimmable lighting, including rainbow light. I like writing to the rainbow light. The thought that went into putting this space together boggles me.

Yesterday at Haven, Richard and I took notes on the plot for the newest book. It hasn’t truly jelled yet; I’m not ready to set up the outline yet, but I’m closer. Because of the coffee.

Warming Up To Writing

I’m using the blogging as a way to warm up my writing muscles, which haven’t been getting a workout for a while. Kind of like stretching, I guess.

Plotting the latest book is going slow. I know that it’s going to be humorous, and it’s going to involve Barn Swallows’ Dance and husband-wife influencers, and a good amount of the humor is going to be the members of Barn Swallows’ Dance trying to hide the less standard parts of their reality — the immortals, the Garden with its gifts, the flying cats (who are not cooperating with the collective’s plans).

Other than that, I am having trouble with theme and plot. Plot especially. I am not to the point where I can block out the plot in Scrivener (the software I use to write the book; I highly recommend it for writing).

I’m going to talk about theme and plot with Richard today over coffee at Haven. That’s where I am right now, nicely caffeinated.

Writing Time Will Return

I still haven’t laid out my new story yet. It’s April, and that means it’s a busy time wrapping up the school year and the semester at the same time.

Summer won’t be so busy. I need to start a routine for summer so I can get things done. My work duties will be supervising interns, and that largely means scheduling site visits. The rest of the work can flow around my other work. It’s a very different time of year for me.

I need some time at coffee. Coffee and writing. I have been doing Saturdays at Haven, and that’s where my big brainstorming a new story day happened last week. But to write, I’m going to have to do more coffee time again. This summer, I promise myself.

It’s only about three weeks till summer break, and it’s going pretty fast. Two weeks till finals. Soon writing time will return.

First Day of Classes

After my long summer, it’s finally time to go back to work teaching. I am psyching myself up to stand in front of a classroom again. I need energy and enthusiasm.

I need coffee.

I haven’t had coffee in a little while because it tastes too strong when I’m losing weight, but I will try it today because it is NEEDED.

Yes, enthusiasm comes in a mug!

Quick post

Quick blog post — we’re packing for our adventure to New York. We have to pack a lot with the moulage and everything. I’ll keep you posted.

On This Writing Retreat

I’m on a writing retreat in KC, and although I haven’t written anything yet, I got to watch fireworks from the 35th floor of my hotel.

Today is writing, followed by going to the cat cafe to pet cats. Then maybe more writing. We shall see.

I’m at a crucial place in my story, a big reveal, and then chaos. It’s a bit intimidating to write. But I will make it.

Just Sunday

It’s just Sunday, and it’s promising to be a hot one. Time for a leisurely breakfast and some coffee. We have plants to go in in the morning. We scaled down our vegetable garden to tomatoes because of the lack of sun in our yard, but we have a full herb garden that needs a couple more herbs. Lots of basil to go in with the tomatoes.

Once the tomatoes are in, we may be waiting for rain. I would like a good thunderstorm to come through. We might go and write for a while; I don’t know. Not an exciting day, but a good one.

Have a good day!

A Good Day

It’s definitely a Monday morning. I woke up from annoying nightmares a few minutes early, and it was too late to go back to bed. I don’t really have words right now, just a lingering need to go back to sleep. Which I will not because of the danger of sleeping through that 11 o’clock appointment.

I now have my coffee. At the moment, it’s not accomplishing much. But the austere white house across the street has a rosy glow to it, and the day promises to be productive.

I will let it be a good day.

Coffeehouse Thoughts

I’m at the Broadway Cafe in Kansas City, hoping my seedlings upstate are doing well. I’m drinking a latte and absorbing a real coffee house ambiance, which I have needed for a while.

Not that I dislike my local Starbucks, because it fills in for the real coffeehouses we’ve had in town, and is better than the current place that serves coffee downtown, which is a defeated pile of go-cups. But it’s not a real coffeehouse experience because of its corporate nature.

Coffeehouse thoughts: It’s about three weeks till the end of the semester, for which I am really thankful. Summer will have interns, but that means a much more flexible schedule with some rest. That sounds good to me.

I feel exceptionally calm right now, like I will make it to the end of the school year without the disturbances of the past, without unfinished projects with looming deadlines. It feels good not being manic or depressed or both.

Writing is going slow; I haven’t quite found the rhythm of the story yet. It hasn’t developed into enough of a story. I need to get there and not run away from another novel.

I need more coffee. I could fall asleep in my latte right now.

A Confession

I haven’t had my coffee yet this morning. I fell asleep upright (thank goodness this is a work-from-home day) and I’m not yet awake even though I’m writing this. I guess I am a coffee addict.