Write On

Here are some tips to keep distraction and boredom at bay.

- Seema Goswami

I GUESS by now the whole world knows that J.K. Rowling was a single mother on benefits when she wrote the first Harry Potter book, the series that would later turn her into a billionaire. But did you know that in those early days she would bundle up her daughter into a stroller and settle down at a cafe, Nicolson’s in Edinburgh, to write all day long? Over endless cups of espresso and glasses of water –all that she could afford at the time– and with her daughter asleep beside her, she would write the words that would resound across the world in the years to come.

Sounds amazing, doesn’t it? But if you are writing a book, or even an article or a blog, this approach may not work for you. How do I know? Because when I turn a bit stir-crazy sitting and writing at home,I have tried this whole working-out-of-a-cafe malarkey and take it from me, it does not work for any one who is not called J.K. Rowling.

First off, this is India. So, there is the noise factor. There will be people bellowing away into their phones.Therewill be a couple breaking up or making up noisily at the next table. There will be children running around madly, playing some mysterious game of chase. So, it will be impossible to concentrate on the words you are writing given that you will not be able to tune out the word soup sloshing around you.