Regular readers of this blog will know that I have recently been working away from my usual writing spot – a corner of my local Costa – so that the whole café can have much needed refit.
Over the last 10 days I’ve been hopping from local café to café, laptop at the ready to crack on with the latest work-in-progress. While it has been lovely to see some difference places, drink lots of coffee and sample the odd cake or two – I have to confess that I’ve missed my regular writing spot. Productively has been down, and while the words have come, they have not flowed as they normally would. Not for the first time, I have found myself marvelling at what creatures of habit human beings are.
When it comes down to it, my corner is just a desk and a chair in a busy place, where most people would find it too noisy or hectic to concentrate for more then ten minutes. Yet, for me, it’s my spot – my comfort zone. A place that has seen over a million words flow from my brain to my fingers, and onto the laptop screen – before (eventually) becoming a novel and reaching a bookshelf, or an audio script, and reaching my audiences ears via some amazing voices.
The act of actually getting up and going to work, rather than sitting at home and writing, makes big difference to me. It is – for me at least – the difference between my writing being a job rather than a hobby. Perhaps it would be different if I had a home with a study or a spare room to use as a place of work – but as that is not the case, then my corner is all the more priceless to me.
So – what’s the new look corner like?
Well – lighter!!! It’s so clean and fresh. I love it!
Not only do I have my desk and chair back, (My actual chair, not one of the new chairs that have been fitted to the shop as I’m an old dear now, and need back support!), but I’ve got shelves!!
The shelves are a new addition to the corner, and will hold copies of many of the books I’ve written here for customers to read on site while they drink their coffee, should they wish to. (Just don’t take them out of the shop!!) You’ll also find books by P J Reed – who also spends a lot of time writing in here – usually in the adjacent corner!
One thing that’s a bit different is the plaque. The ‘Jenny Kane’s Corner’ plaque was accidently damaged as it was taken down, and is now propped up against the wall. This is not a crisis by any means. It was always a source of some amazement to me that I had one at all! It was a gift from one of the cafe’s earliest mangers, Jules Burton (now overall manager of the area) – and a kind thought that I’ll always treasure.
I was lucky enough to be invited into the store just before opening today, so I could get settled into my corner, and take a behind the scenes part in the reopening. Very conscious of not wanting to get in the way, I took on the role of photographer, taking lots of snaps as the local mayor, Sue Griggs, officially opened the premises. And, more bizarrely, I was involved in helping one of the cafe’s longest serving baristas, Graham, get into this fabulous Costa cup outfit!
Once again, a massive thank you to the whole team at Tiverton Costa, (especially Jenny West), as well as Jules, Mark and the guys from Scoffs, who own the franchise that controls the store! (This café is not a national, but a local franchisee store)
Not forgetting a thank you to every customer and staff member who has helped me out when I’m stuck with a plotline, read my books, come in to buy a book from me directly, nipped by for a drink and to have their book signed, or sat upstairs in the workroom to take part in one of my in-café workshops and – of course – my friends who pop by every now and then for a non-work coffee to keep my sanity in tact and my feet firmly on the ground.
Now however, I’d better get on. After all, book number 40 (the 25th to be written in my corner) won’t write itself!
Happy reading – and coffee drinking,
Jenny x