Hi fiction lover! I’m here with a writing tip that completely changed me. In fact, there are days where I can’t write without implementing this tip. It might seem a bit cliche. But… the best decision that I made for my writing career was writing at the cafe!
Flashback to when I first started to write. I set a goal for myself. Okay. 250 words for the day. Or night, since my nocturnal era started pretty early in my life. Using my huge prehistoric laptop, I sat down at home in the living room. I put my hands over the keyboard, and although the words would come (eventually), I really struggled.
After a few years of doing this, and transferring to various parts of the apartment, I finally brought my laptop to a boba cafe. It was strange at first, like trying on a pair of pants too big for you. But slowly, I let the noise take me away, and I copied the other productive-looking people. In fact, I began to type faster than ever before. When 1000 words flew by after a few hours or so, I questioned whether I gained superpowers.
I know you’ve probably heard this tip before. This article says that the cafe offers an optimal sound level of 70 decibels for focus. Writing in a new place will also create dopamine, that happy chemical that helps with creativity and motivation. It also helps that when going to a cafe, you have the mindset of wanting to get something done. You increase your performance by knowing others are watching you (yes, that old guy reading the newspaper too, or the two guys in dress shirts playing chess). This is otherwise known as part of the “audience effect.”
For me, being in the cafe feels like joining a club of people trying to knock out a task. I feel that energy of productivity (or maybe I’m mistaking the smell of coffee for it). Whether there are others writing, trying to finish their studies, working their remote jobs—the cafe really houses all types of worker bees. By going to the cafe, I’m telling myself that I also need to be productive.
It was a bit uncomfortable at first. Going from writing on my laptop at home in the dead of night, to a disorienting busy cafe, was an adjustment. But after getting accustomed to the environment, it shifted to a point where I couldn’t do much writing anywhere but the cafe. I can now proudly say that I penned multiple novels solely in the cafe (or almost solely).
Whether you choose a boba shop or a more traditional cafe, I recommend writing at the cafe if you struggle with inspiration! I know it sounds like cheesy advice, but it really does work and I can’t recommend it enough. Don’t forget to check out other posts in my blog if you are also someone who finds joy through fiction.