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Thursday, October 22, 2015

Dunkin Donuts Writing Time

I shared with you a while back about how I have started getting out of the house to have a little writing time that isn't interrupted by my normal family life around here.  I had gone to a little, adorable coffee shop here in my town.

I have tried making the whole getting out of the house to write a regular thing and work around Rainman's work schedule, so I don't feel like I am slacking in my parenting or homeschooling duties either!

But, like I said in my post, while the cute little coffee shop is great and all.....the comfy chairs that actually fit my rear end are few and far between.

So, I have tried something and someplace else.

Even closer to my house than the coffee shop is a gas station.  A gas station that has a Dunkin' Donuts attached to it.  A Dunkin' Donuts that has booth type seating and easy to move tables.  So, I have been going there.

Sometimes I go by myself.  Sometimes, L-girl and/or A-girl come with depending on their school schedules.  They work on homework or talk and I just write.

It has worked out really well.  I have always been able to get this little corner booth section that has electricity and I have been able to shove 2 tables together and spread out.  The girls, if they are with me, just set up a bit down from me.

It is great.

Last week, L-girl and I went.  She brought her school along (beauty of homeschooling).  I worked/wrote.  Every now and then she would say to me, "Hey, there is________". Fill in the blank with someone we knew from church, or baseball, or our neighborhood.  Apparently lots of people frequent this gas station/donut shop.  Honestly, though, I didn't really see any of them.  I was working and my eyes are ...well....old, I guess.  If I am working on stuff right in front of me or reading, it is easier for me to take off my glasses.  So, when I look up at the world, everything is blurry....but everything right in front of me is good.

Anyway, I had been coming to this Dunkin' Donuts about once a week for a few weeks (minus our Disney week).  Last week, I was typing away on my scary writing project and one of the workers who happened to be wiping down tables near me asked, "Do you work from home?"

Well, I am not sure what came over me.  I said, "Yes, but when I really want to get stuff done, I come here.  It is hard to get stuff done with the kids around."

Then she said, "Oh, what do you do?  What is your job?"

As Cathy would say.....

(by Cathy Guisewite)


So, then I sort of stumbled through an explanation,  "I am trying to be a writer....well, I am sort of a writer."  Which elicited the response, "Oh?  What kind of writer are you?   What have you written?"

Now, I stumbled through...."Well, I write a blog, but I am working on this other thing and I....I...."  I just sort of petered off....with one of those sort of fake chuckles at the end.

She sort of wandered away.  I am sure it was a table wiping emergency.   It was awkward.

I told L-girl later, that I didn't even think before I answered her....but I wished I would have.  It reminded me of one of those conversations that you relive over and over in your head wishing that you could go back and change what you said.

I do work from home....sort of.  You know?  It was hard to feel like I had a legitimate answer for her. Then I knew I sounded desperate when I was trying to explain to her about my "writing"....and wished I could suck every word back into my skull.

There is a piece of me that now wants to become wildly successful, like J.K Rowling,  so the Dunkin' Donuts lady and I can both remember that horrible, awkward conversation about me "working" and "writing" and laugh about it during our appearance together on Ellen....or something.

I haven't been back to the Dunkin' Donuts since that conversation.  I promise though it isn't entirely because of that conversation I had with the nice donut lady.  It has just been extra busy around here and really, really hard for  me to sneak away for a few hours.

One day late last week, I was standing in the kitchen cooking dinner, while our normal life whirled around me. Rainman was talking sports with one of the kids, the little kids were twirling (literally twirling) in and out of the kitchen to tell me stuff/ask me stuff.  Pretty sure at least one of the big girls was singing a song.  You know....normal chaos.

D-man came up from the basement and said, "Wow!  It is crazy up here."

"What do you mean?", I asked.

He said, "Well, I was just downstairs and it was all dark and quiet with just my t.v. on, then I come up here and it is like....bam!  Everyone is talking.  Everyone is moving.  Everyone is having a different conversation."

I made some joke about him coming up from his cave to join the real world.

But, then I had an idea....if his cave worked for him....maybe it would work for me too.

So, I have had 2 basement writing days so far.

I have custody of the cave during the wee, small hours of the morning and D-man has custody in the wee small hours of the evening.

And, so far, so good.  The second writing day wasn't quite as successful, because people realized where I was and did pop in to ask a question or visit me.  But, for the  most part, it was dark, peaceful and I got quite a bit done.  Plus, the couch is comfy, I get to have my feet up, the coffee is free, and I don't have to wear a bra or have awkward conversations with people.

All pretty positive things right there!

I am not saying I won't ever go back to Dunkin' Donuts to work, but this is a pretty good alternative, especially if I can figure out a way to have the kids pretend I am gone too and not come to visit me quite so often.  Maybe I need to get a coffee pot for the basement too - then there won't be any evidence of me actually being home - when I come up for refills......hmmmmm.......