Where Everybody Knows My Name
Thumbs Up in Lake Geneva
Every writer I’ve ever known has different ways of going about their craft and hunting his or her muse. My boss, for example, writes in the morning with her laptop while sitting in an extremely comfy chair. Keith DeCandido once told me a story about pounding away at the keys while riding on a train. Cam Banks has described writing material in the middle of the night with a cranky baby in his lap.
I am capable of working just about anywhere, especially when the level of pressure is up. (For some reason, I seem to work really well under pressure!) But strangely enough, I’ve found a place that’s just right for me.
It’s called Thumbs Up. And it’s a bar.
Don’t ask me why, but for some reason when I sit in my little corner table with my laptop and a tasty beverage it doesn’t seem to matter how many people are around, how many drunks are screaming at the top of their lungs, or what football or baseball game might be playing on the plasmas hanging above the bar. I’m in the zone.
My fingers fly and distractions just seem to melt away. Erin and Danielle, my lovely bartenders are always there to take care of me and I run into occasional friends—without them pulling me away from my the business at hand.
I think my largest obstacle to writing at home is the fact that I already run a home office. I’m at my MWP desk a good 8-10 hours a day, and never too far away even at the dinner table or while watching television. My office is work-work, and for some reason that’s created a psychological barrier for me working on personal writing projects. But get me into Thumbs and I’m in my happy place without having to go too far from home. Apparently my muse likes to go for a drink, so I have one with her.
I’m the strange guy who sits in the corner with a black MacBook and orders the occasional Jägerbomb. I might raise my head up to smile at a friend, tease Erin the Bartender about her Brett Favre obsession, or chuckle at the antics of a local barfly, but mostly my brain is focused on the subject I’m exploring or the tale that I’m telling.
And yeah, some of them do know my name.
