We talked some time ago about finding space to write and you talked about writing in cafes, in KLCC park, on stairwells.Now how about a space specially dedicated to writers? :
... created by writers for writers, with an understanding that writers work best in a quiet, comfortable space away from the hurry and obligation of urban life.Two New York based creative writing students, Lila Cecil and Joy Parisi :
Tired of slogging it out in jobs they did not have their hearts in and desperate for a quiet place to write and a community of writers similar to the one they had found in graduate school ... decided to open their own writing center.The end result was Paragraph, a tranquil space which attracts writers in many different genres. There's even a programme of events.
Wish you had a place like this to write ... or do you think it really doesn't matter - like Jean Hannah Eidelstein on the Guardian blog who reckons one shouldn't be so hung up on the space we write in :
... this epic quest for the perfect space, the perfect chair, the perfect room temperature and wallpaper and perfectly chipped mug from which to drink one's perfectly steeped tea while writing has very little to do with the tangible need for surroundings conducive to creativity, and everything to do with the sublimation of writer's block. If the writing is going well, I am sure that I could do it while dangling from ropes off the side of an Alpine rock-face. If it's not, then it is much easier to blame on the state of the café in which I am trying to work - "This espresso is burnt! I can't possibly work under these conditions!" - or, I daresay, the volume of the shoes worn by the person sitting next to me, than on the treacly speed of my brain.Eidelstein is right, y'know. But I can't help thinking that a writing centre like Paragraph would be just so nice here.
12 comments:
you should create one! how about a nice cosy refuge right in KL?
(the prices are astronomical though -- $100 per month? but I guess it's New York)
I already found my ideal writing space. Two, in fact.
IKEA Cafe in the mornings.
Hoxe's Cafe in the evenings.
Join me at IKEA one of these mornings, Sharon?
The National Archives look like a nice place to write in, too.
Perhaps I am jumping the gun but a new independent bookshop with lots of space will open in KL in October and maybe ...
chet - we hang out to write in d'lish usually chet but might take you up on IKEA if only so i have an excuse to go to borders after!
wah amir!!! this is your project or whose?? (not raman's?) of course you've got me dying to know more. waiting for you to spill the beans when you are ready
I still like Kino cafe at lunch time. The tables are so close, you can hear lots of conversations and they can provide ideas when you're stuck.
While at school I mastered the ability to completely tune out in the middle of a noisy class. I guess therefore I can work in pretty crowded and noisy surroundings - it adds stimulus.
Another place is JPJ Wangsa Maju or the Immigration Office.
Nowdays, police stations sound like exciting places to hang out (the public area, not the lock up mind you). And they have nice old wooden desks (like school in my time) which is always inspiring.
I like relatively silent places but surrounded by people concentrated in varied work -- libraries, labs and workshops are good places for me.
i tried bodeha lounge, telawi but the sofas were so comfy i ended up napping.
eh bodeGa. eesh.
I have done coffee bean bangsar village 2 but ended up people watching more :(
A lovely idea - it's actually been a dream of mine to open a bookstore with a club space for writers - now I see it for real, albeit in another country. Looking forward to the new indie bookstore in October. And good writing spaces for me are libraries with wifi, and the Coffee Bean at Jaya33.
I tried writer spaces once, but I really hated the experience. It makes me feel like I'm in an examination hall, whipped to write and constantly observed. For me the problem is not so much spaces, but writing time.
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