What is the Perfect Writer’s Coffee Shop?

by Raina Schell

The month before last I spent 10 days in Texas. Ten glorious days. Before I left I was in a funk, a funk so deep that I could not seem to pull myself out of it. Simply put, I’d lost my mojo, my motivation, my eternal optimism, my joie de vivre. I walked around day in and day out in a foul mood, grumbling and complaining to anyone who would listen and to those who would not. I didn’t want to be at work helping people, I didn’t want to be writing my novel, I didn’t want to do much of anything at all. This is how it was when I flew into Austin Texas one hot and humid Sunday afternoon. The woman I was staying with, a lovely airbnb/er named Shelly, met me at a local seafood restaurant and took me out to dinner. The crawfish étouffée was the marked beginning of the change.

Epoch Coffee, Austin Texas

 The next day I walked to the café nearest to her house and this is where I discovered Nirvana in Texas. Epoch Coffee was/is the most amazingly perfect writing café I have yet to find in all of my many journeys both home and abroad. I spent the entire day sitting outside on the sun-dappled patio, writing to my heart’s content. Inspiration seemed to fly out of the rafters, alighting my fingers, soaring over the keyboard, a dove in flight. I sat on that magical patio all day long and wrote, really wrote. Characters bloomed, plot expounded, it felt like I was making my own personal history sitting there at Epoch, which was truly living up to its name.

Epoch's Patio

So what makes the perfect writer’s coffee shop? I will be the first to admit, the coffee has to be good, or tea or whatever you’re drinking. I don’t drink coffee on a regular basis but at Epoch I drank their coffee and it was simply, phenomenal. However, that’s not what made the experience so meaningful and ripe. Epoch truly had everything I have ever looked for in the “perfect writing coffee shop”. The outdoor patio was large and open, the weather perfect. The view was not “crazy good” but somehow it was heart opening. 

Photo by Raina Schell

I could stare across the street for a few minutes to regroup between scenes and find inspiration in the wild grass and trees that grew there, unencumbered. How can one find inspiration from perfectly manicured lawns? The patio was on the street but it wasn’t a busy street so there were barely any cars driving by and the patio itself was raised up a few steps from the sidewalk as though there was a firm barrier between “them” and “us”. The perfect coffee shop must have good, soft seats with adequate back support and still I have yet to find one with seats as perfect as Epoch. An essential detail that did not go unnoticed is that this enlightened coffee shop incorporates outlets into the railing where each table is nestled. Not everyone likes quiet but I do. I don’t like music when I write or loud conversations and Epoch outside offered exactly that. There were people talking but the tables are not crowded against one another so unless I focused on trying to hear them, I could not.

Epoch's Patio

Sitting blissfully at Epoch, I did choose to overhear a significant conversation. A 20 something guy was dating a new girl. He had moved into a new house with roommates as well and was bemoaning one roommate in particular for having “big dreams”. I didn’t interrupt though I wanted to. I wanted to tell him that big dreams are the spark of the future. Big dreams keep us going sometimes when nothing else can. And most importantly, big dreams can come true - for without them we have no dreams at all, nothing to strive for and no accomplishments on the horizon. Dream big and if you fail at least you’ve tried. I said none of this as I pretended to write or at that moment, read and not look like I was listening. This guy sounded like he had lost something too, his own personal spark so I could relate. He was stuck, he didn’t know what the future held and he was feeling despondent and somewhat negative. But he’d met a girl recently and when his friend asked him what he liked about her he responded, “She loves life, she sees everything with fresh eyes, she’s always happy. Being around her reminds me to look at the joy in life.” That hit a chord. That’s how I’d been before I fell into my, let’s be honest here, 2 year funk. Maybe, I thought, that’s how everyone is before they wake up one day to find that their dreams have passed them by.

Epoch's Signage

Since my return to California I’ve been on the search for the “perfect writer’s coffee shop” and I have yet to find it. I’ve looked in SF, Marin County and the East Bay. Next month I will try L.A. If you know of a hidden gem anywhere in the world that fits the criteria above – a high bar set by Epoch… please let me and other readers know as soon as possible, we will all be eternally grateful.

MEET MY CHARACTER Blog Hop!

I was invited to participate in a blog hop titled: “Meet My Character Blog Tour” by the lovely and talented Regina Kammer – thank you Regina!! This blog hop highlights a main character from an author’s work-in-progress (WIP) or recently published or soon-to-be-published work. Regina Kammer introduced Joseph Phillips from her Historical Erotica, Disobedience by Design, which I am currently reading and thoroughly enjoying! In this book, which takes place mainly in England in 1860, Joseph is a very experienced and quite gorgeous 21 year old American from NYC. Read more aboutJoseph and Disobedience by Design! More links can be found at the bottom of this entry.

The Character from my Destiny Series that I will briefly discuss here is… dun dun dun... LIZZY

1) What is the name of your character?  Is he/she fictional or a historic person?

Her full name is Elisabetta Moretti but everyone calls her Lizzy. She is fictional but please don’t tell her that. She may come after you.

2) When and where is the story set?

The story is set in modern day Sicily, Italy.

3) What should we know about him/her?

Lizzy grows up, the only daughter of a hard working fisherman, in a small Sicilian fishing village some 77 kilometers from the capital of Palermo. She has no mother but she does have a brother that she's never met.

Lizzy becomes a trained thief possessing the paranormal abilities of telepathy and mind control. She's endowed with at least 2 other abilities that are not fully realized until much later. In book 1 Lizzy is a young girl, growing up in Sicily. In book 2 Lizzy is 23 years old, while traversing the Atlantic, aboard a vast ocean liner. In book 2 Lizzy is introduced to her soul mate Vincent. Lizzy, is a stunning Sicilian female of course, who, though well versed in all areas of self defense and other criminal underground activities, is naïve in the ways of love and life.

4) What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?

In Book 1 - Lizzy’s main conflict is that she doesn’t fit in. She has no friends as a young child and feels like an outsider looking in. All she wants is to belong… so when she finally finds a place where she does feel a part of - she becomes internally torn because this place is teaching her the prowess needed to be part of the criminal underground. These new skills and new friends come with a price she’s not sure she can pay. In order to truly be a “part of” Lizzy must abandon her father and ultimately relinquish her own integrity.

5) What is the personal goal of the character?

She wants to be loved and accepted for who she is not for what she can or can’t do. She spends a lot of time proving herself and trying to build up a family from a wild cast of characters all imbued with paranormal abilities, who are misfits just like herself.

6) Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?

The working title is Exquisite Destiny and it is now a projected 5 book series currently being called The Destiny Series. It took on a life of its own and sprouted babies.

7) When can we expect the book to be published?

That’s a good question and I don’t have an answer to that yet. I am currently re-writing book 2. The bulk of Book 2 was written during NaNoWriMo 2013. Book 1 will be written during NaNo 2014. My website will be updated with current information but I’m hoping for Spring 2015 at the latest.

More about the Meet My Characters blog hop!

I was tagged by Regina Kammer who introduced the dashing young Joseph Phillips in her Meet my Character Blog Post.

Regina Kammer is a librarian, an art historian, and best-selling, multi-published writer of erotica and historical erotic romance. She has been published by Cleis Press, Go Deeper Press, Ellora’s Cave, House of Erotica, and her own imprint, Viridium Press. She began writing historical fiction with romantic elements during NaNoWriMo 2006, switching to erotica when all her characters suddenly demanded to have sex.

You can follow Regina on:

Twitter-@Kammerotica

Her website and blog

I’ve tagged Kayla Hampton and Maya Goode who will be posting their blog spots on August 25^th

Kayla Hampton has always been fascinated by the dark and sexy creatures that live in our dreams (or nightmares).  Bringing these characters to life in her books is what she wants to do when she “grows up”.  When Kayla is not writing passionate stories of love and war, she loves spending time with her husband and daughter on the Canadian West Coast. 

Follow Kayla:

Website: kaylahampton.com

Blog: http://kaylahampton.com/blog

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KHamptonBooks

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kayla-Hampton/208367729335283

Maya Goode is a short story author, novelist, and poet. Raised by an amazing mercurial woman who shared neither blood nor race, she lives on the edge of identities and writes deeply honest stories about the human journey. She is an alumna of Dominican University of California and resides somewhere between mountains and the ocean. Her first novel, Remigium Rising, will be published in Spring 2015. You can visit her at www.mayagoode.com

Twitter http://www.twitter.com/quotidianlight

Google Plus https://plus.google.com/+quotidianlight
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/user/quotidianlight

Listening With Writer’s Ears On

by Raina Schell

I’ve been reading a lot of books on “how to write” lately. Books about publishing, editing, outlining – you name it. I enjoy reading other writer’s processes, I really do.

Last week I spent time with my family and an old friend. They were both crazy in different ways and I’m talking – certifiably insane, or at least my old friend L is. I kept thinking “this is a good character study” in order to make it through the week. On some level I’m sure that’s the truth but on the level of protecting my own sanity it was the excuse I came up with in order to participate in the hell that was their lives.

I found myself approaching listening in a new and different way. I began to really listen, to absorb not judge and not have to insert my experiences. I listened to get ideas for characters, plots and scenes. Instead of thinking “this person is crazy” or “when will they get to the point?” I listened to hear, wanting to file it all away for future writing projects or now as I decided to name it “listening with my writer’s ears on”.

After a particularly juicy tidbit was revealed to me (by a stranger, a friend, family) I wanted to go home and take notes. I wasn’t sure how I would index those notes so thus far I’ve only tried to remember but I can see that note taking would be advantageous. Perhaps in one word (or more likely evernote) file titled “notes while listening with my writer’s ears on”. Then when I need some inspiration for a character or a plot I can look there. It helps to get me through the mundane, crazy and non-engaging moments of life.