on excuses and coffee shops

(the following is an excerpt from this book ^)

Of the 60 bazillion words I’ve written in my lifetime, I’ve written maybe 250 of them in a coffee shop. (That could be a low estimate.)

I say this for one reason only: if you have in your mind some “ideal” place and circumstances in which to pursue your dreams, and that ideal place and those ideal circumstances are out of reach for you right now for whatever reason (kids, job, life), please don’t think that means you have to sit and wait for another, better time to get started.

Well, sometimes it does mean that. There are legit things that keep us from pursuing dreams, legit seasons where we simply must give our full, undivided attention to other things/people (or our own selves).

BUT.

I get verrrrrry twitchy when people tell me things like, “Oh, I would love to write a book someday, but after I put the kids to bed, I can’t leave them to go to a coffee shop, so I guess I’ll just sit on my bed and watch six episodes of Ted Lasso on my laptop.”

Guess where I’ve written 60% of the words/books/blog posts I’ve ever written?

ON MY LAPTOP ON MY BED.

And I’ve probably written 30% at my desk, which, for the last four years, has been the kitchen table. And the remaining 10%? In the car, on airplanes, in church (sorry, not sorry), and anywhere else I think of something I need to write down.

And lately I’ve been writing everything from the couch (where I am right now).

Oh, and did I mention that I had a five-year-old, a three-year-old, and a nursing infant when my first book came out in 2006?

Where there’s a will there’s a way.

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Inquiring minds want to know: IF YOU’RE A WRITER, WHEN/WHERE DO YOU WRITE?