I have this pact with my friend and fellow writer Bry that we will have at least one serious writing session a month. We look forward to these sessions, because most of the time they are the only way that we can get some serious writing done. We sneak away to a local Starbucks or Panera with our laptops and just have at it. For the most part we don’t speak, except to ask an occasional question or look for a snippet of advice. We just sit and write, stopping only to take a sip of coffee or to stare out the window into nothingness with the hopes of finding inspiration on the street. We do this for three hours or so before we pack up and head back to the car, our conversation picking up from where it was left when we initially sat down to write.

I value these sessions more than anything else that pertains to writing. Sure, I stop every once in awhile to check Facebook, but I do more writing in those three hours together than I do for weeks at a time on my own. Today was our first outing of 2014, and I managed to do a significant amount of work on the memoir piece that I’m prepping for submission. In fact, I think that all I need to worry about now is a couple of small copy edits. I haven’t worked on this piece since early December, and I really needed a push to get moving on it again. I blame the “Holiday Hangover” for my sluggishness in joining reality and getting back to work.

Not every writer will make for a good writing buddy. Some people just want to sit and talk rather than write. But Bry and I have the perfect writing relationship in that we bond even over the silence. The best part is that we motivate each other to make the most of our few precious hours together, hours that may have very well been wasted on things that don’t really matter.

Categories: On Writing

Tagged as: friends Starbucks writer writing writing process writing session

Alyssa Pierce