Location, Location, Location

Confession: It's been a while since I was in a relationship. Even the group of women knitting in the corner of the restaurant look hot. To my credit, they are all about my age.

Reading:

• Someplace to be Flying, by Charles de Lint

Writing:

• "Ferian Fetlock Cures a Horse"

Revising:

• "Cora and the Sea"

I wrote almost all of "Illuminated" in the Barnes and Noble in Smithtown, NY. "Cora and the Sea" was conceived on the walk between my house and the local Borders books, and written there in an afternoon. Each story in Floorcraft has a different origin: Lauinger Library, the Leavey Lounge, the Davenport Coffee Lounge at American University, Uncommon Grounds at Georgetown, and others. I can remember each one distinctly.

Dairhenien's Library has ranged wildly. Lately it has been written at the back table of the Panera Bread in Bohemia, but in the past, it's been at the Borders in Friendship Heights, the Barnes and Noble in Georgetown, La Madeleine in Chevy Chase, and others. It started at my dad's work computer at Cargill Steel and Wire, where I typed up some notes while waiting for him to finish up for the day.

Location is pretty important for me and my writing. It's not that these places set the tone for the story--I mean, they're pretty much all coffee shops, bookstores with coffee shops, or college coffee shops. But each is distinct, and just thinking about those places puts me in the same mental place I was when the stories were written.

With "Ferian Fetlock," I have no such place. Each part has been written in a different location. I think I need to find a place, a new place, and write there until it's done. That's my project for this weekend... to finally put that story to bed and move on to something new.