Blogging from Tim Hortons (WFMAD Day 24)

I'm doing the cliched writer thing again, and writing in a Tim Hortons. I find I have an easier time concentrating here, as I'm not distracted by the television. (Curse you, Netflix!! *shakes fist*) It also gives me an excuse to purchase a large iced capp, so everybody wins! (Or maybe I just win twice? I don't know.)

I had a bit of a...mechanical difficulty (?) on the way over here. Since I can't drive, I opt to ride my bike most places (so long as there's not ten feet of snow on the ground, which I can guarantee will be the case within the next two months or so). My plan was to head down to the bank, then on the way back to my house stop at Tims for a little writing session. Before I even got the the bank, though, the brakes on my bike kind of....broke.

Luckily, I wasn't riding down the street at top speed when it happened. I was stopped at an intersection, then when I took off to cross the street, my brakes got stuck. (Side note: trying to ride your bike across the street when your brakes are stuck is the most annoying thing in the world, especially when you know there's a car waiting for you to cross so they can turn.) Once I reached the other side of the street, I tried to get them unstuck, and I succeeded. Kind of. Now my brakes just don't work at all.

Sooo now I have to walk my bike all the way back to my house, which is a huge pain in the butt and I'm trying to dawdle around here for as long as possible because I am not looking forward to it. I only have 12% battery remaining, though (that's what I get for not charging my computer before leaving the house, I guess), my sandwich is almost gone and so is my iced capp, so I don't think I'll be here for much longer.

So, uh, Dad....if you're reading this...can you fix my brakes? Pretty please?


Until later,

- Justyne

Clichés (WFMAD Day 3)

Whenever I pictured being a writer--like a professional writer, who doesn't need a second job to pay the bills--I pictured several different scenarios:

• Sitting in my pyjamas all day, every day, writing. (I have since realized that this is pretty much not going to happen and am only minorly disappointed about this.)
• Living in a car, driving all over the continent, while writing. (Judging from the fact that I don't know how to drive yet this is also fairly improbable.)
• Sitting in a coffee shop, typing away at my computer, while elegantly sipping...well, coffee. (This is probably the most, if not the only likely scenario of the three.)

Of the three of them, I think the last one is probably the most clichéd of all writer stereotypes. I always, always hear people on twitter and in interviews and on other blogs talking about how they go to their local Starbucks or Tim Hortons to get their writing done. It's always seemed like the writerly thing to do. 

And so the other day, finding myself with the day off and quite a bit of time to spare, I hopped on my bike and rode on down to the local Tim Hortons, buying myself an iced capp and writing there for about an hour.

That's right. I did the cliché writer thing.

It actually worked out a lot better than I originally expected. There wasn't a drastic increase in the writing I produced, but it provided a nice little atmosphere that I enjoyed. I have trouble sometimes with finding a balance between dead silence and too much noise, and I think that all of the background noise from the restaurant--the people chatting, the workers taking orders, etc etc--formed that balance, which was fantastic.

Of course, that didn't stop me from getting distracted by Twitter, but I digress.

I can definitely see myself going back to Timmies to write sometime, but how soon that actually happens depends on my work schedule and how lazy I am.

Because let's face it: I'm really, really lazy.

Until later,

- Justyne