Sitting at a Sushi Restaurant…. Where to work

Photo by P, Lynne Designs

It is Blogmas, Day 3, and I am currently sitting in a sushi restaurant working, enjoying a bowl of Miso soup, and the waiter brought in my “any 3 rolls” combo.  Looks delicious. I ordered the spicy scallop crunch roll, a squid tempura roll, and an eel avocado roll.  For sushi haters, it is quite adventurous, and very delicious.  Ok, I have said delicious too many times already. Let me move on.

While I was waiting, I decided that I wanted to write a blog piece (this one), and before I could finish one sentence, the waiter came out with the meal.  I could have finished this post, but the food was so delicious (there’s that word again) until I wanted to finish every bit of that sushi and soup.

The point to this post is not to boast about my meal (as good as it was), but to mention about an important step in the life of a writer, you do not have to work at home.  This is what separates my handmade business from my writing business, and better still separates my writing business from my direct selling business.  Let me explain

In my handmade business, P. Lynne Designs-Handmade, I need my tools with me.  These tools are big, bulky, and require many trips from the car and back.  It is perfect for craft shows when I go. I can sit there, do my work, and attend to customers at the same time.  I cannot take the tools to a coffee shop or a library.  Too noisy and I would get kicked out.  Same thing with my direct selling company, Longaberger, where I am an independent home consultant, except the noise level is a little quieter, but again, it does not make a good idea situation.

With P. Lynne Designs-writing, all I need is a pen, a notebook, and/or my tablet (I have not owned a laptop in years), go upstairs, away from the cat, who likes my desktop keyboard, cuddle up in my bed, and compose. I can go to a restaurant like Fugu Sushi, get a table in the corner during lunch, and pen my thoughts.  I have even gone to the bathroom to write.  Try putting a 12-pound electronic die cutter next to you in the bathtub, I would not be sitting here typing.  But then again, I have not attempted that feat with the Ipad either.

I have a Microsoft subscription that accommodates all 3 of my devices (Phone, Ipad, and desktop), so When I am saving my posts, I am saving it to my OneDrive cloud, and then I can retrieve the post from my desktop.  Once that is done and edited, then I can upload it to my blog.

So, how do you write?

I am not talking about your writing style.  I want to know where do you like to write?  Is it on the shores of Lake George on a moon-lit night (stole that line from an episode from Star Trek Voyager, when Captain Katherine Janeway tells her commanding officer, Chakotay where she would like to take her leisure vacation after she cheated death)? How about in the tub?  In bed?  Sitting down while sipping coffee on a rainy day (where I am right now in front of the desktop screen with a kitten behind me-I left the restaurant) or a sushi restaurant?  No one will call the writing police on you and no one will know unless you tell them.  The important thing is:

A.   You are comfortable.  My most comfortable spot is in my bed, feet stretched out day or night.  I know sometimes that is not feasible nor does it make the most ideal situation, but it is my space, and I have my pillow and blanket around me (no food or drink, I am not starting that habit). When I am downstairs on the main floor (hence, the reason for the no food or drink rule for me), I am at my desktop, coffee in hand, lunch or dinner, and these days, a kitten to keep me warm (not my cat, Gizmo is my nephew’s girlfriend’s cat, but she has claimed me).  I like to sit forward, and she plops herself between my back and the back of the chair.  I also sit on a pillow for comfort, and she thinks the same way.  Why can’t Gizmo sleep on the floor like my nephew’s dog, Strype, A mini Huskey mix?

Again, it does not matter where you are as long as you are comfortable

B.    Have plenty to work with.    Sometimes, if you are like me, you have this great topic that you think will blow to roof off the Interwebs, and you think that there is plenty of material to support it.  You start researching it, and nothing comes up.  It is the same old stuff that a friend of yours wrote about months ago, and nothing new has been written about your “mind-blowing” topic.  Although I have covered research in a prior post, as well as, adding little sprinkles about it here and there, it is important that you do have plenty of support to cover it, or you are maybe writing something that no one has not written about in the last 6 months. 

C.    Connection.  I am not only talking about connecting with your readers. I am talking about what is your Wifi connection in the establishment or environment you are in.  Not all eating places, hotels, cruise ships, or even places of worship have the wifi capabilities of a mega wifi, and some even charge for that connection.  For instance. Next month is my cruise.  I already know that I will not be able to call family when not docked at a port of call, but that also means that my data rates will become very high too.  My phone and my tablet need to be in “Airplane” mode at all times, except when we embark and disembark at the U.S. port.  While at sea, I could get International charges, which is a US citizen and living in the states, is something that my family plan may not cover.  So, that means, no writing or vlogging, then uploading.  I can, but it must be saved to the tablet or phone.  Once I get back, I have one night at a hotel before flying home, then I can remotely upload to my computer at home, safely under US authority.  So, your connection may not be that extreme, and mine usually isn’t, but you may not want to pay $5 an hour to read an ebook on your tablet or phone, or even write a post, at a hotel, but what you can do is download it at home, and read it offline when you get there.  You can also check to see if there is a free connection where you are at.  Most places have that in place as well, but, you may be limited to what you use it for.

D.   Finally, make sure you are not in violation of the free stuff.  Yes, it is wonderful that technology is this vast thing, where you can hook up with a phone, tablet, or laptop, and cruise the internet (the legal name to what I call, the “interwebs”).  While in places like The United States and other countries in the western world have that capability, not everyone has it, and even here in the states, there are limitations to free access.  There is no free access to cruise ships to certain websites and social media unless you pay for a package. Even when free, there are certain restrictions, like no porn sites and no YouTube videos.  If you are caught, you may be banned for life.  Read all rules to your temporary package of internet access (even if you plan to pay for it).  Once you sign on the dotted line (or click “accept”, you are bonded until you leave the area.

I will have a trip report on what I could do with my family plan and Carnival Cruise line, as well as Delta Airlines.  Anything I do would be under my normal conditions and nothing out of the ordinary.   In the meantime, your takeaway is to be flexible with your writing conditions, even when away.  The best thing about having portable devices is they are portable.  Be careful with everything, including where you lay your device.   That is the last tip.  People are watching, and all they need is for you to misstep and you have a missing device, especially in a foreign country.  Be mindful of your surroundings.  I look up every 10 to 20 minutes, sometimes sooner than that, and sometimes I do not engage in my device at all.  Whatever you do, be safe, and know that you write anywhere.