Starbucks is probably an unusual place to be thankful for and my thankfulness is not because of the coffee.

Most days at lunch I take a break from work, walk over to Starbucks, and write.  Ok…sometimes I cruise the internet instead.  I wouldn’t be able to get as much of my personal work done if I stayed at work, ate my lunch, and tried writing there.  It’s too tempting for people to interrupt me.

And, most weekends I also spend my mornings at Starbucks writing and drinking my unsweetened black ice tea.

I live alone and one would think that staying there (at least on the weekends) would allow me the luxury of quiet writing time, but at home I’m distracted by everything else that has to get done…laundry, cleaning the kitchen, making sure the dogs behave.  At Starbucks it may be a bit noisier, but the noise is less distracting than the housework.  There is even theories that the slight distraction of coffee shops is more motivating than the peace and quiet of a home office.

Occasionally someone comes in that knows me and wants to chat.  In those cases I chat for a while and then let them know that I need to get back to work.  They seem to understand and either get back to what they came to do or they just leave.

On a really good writing day, I barely make a dent in my ice tea.  Those are the days that I consider my ice tea the fee for using their internet.  Which brings me to a pet peeve of mine.  I know Starbucks is a huge international corporation, but when did it become acceptable to waltz in with your own food and drink just to use their free internet?  My feeling is even if you don’t want anything, buy something cheap…it’s the right thing to do.  Getting off my soapbox now.

Do you work/write in a coffee shop?  If so, what do you think?  Are you more productive than you would be in your quiet home?