Writing Away from Home
18 Off-site Office Ideas for Every Stage of Your Career
by Deanna Carlyle 2003

Virginia Woolf once wrote that "a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is going to write." But which comes first, the money or the room? I say the room. Whether you're a bestseller or a beginner, you don't have to be rich to create an off-site sanctuary for your muse. Here are eighteen ways to do it.

1. House or Pet Sit
Start spreading the news: You're looking today. You want a house-sit, a free one, preferably with fish and houseplants that need regular care. Tell everyone you know, place ads, shout it from rooftops. If you want it, it will come to you. That's what happened to me. My first house-sit was a summer-long stint for a journalism professor away on academic business. Not only did I enjoy free rent, ocean breezes and a jacuzzi that summer but I had the company of a sweet-tempered bulldog. Writing Heaven.

2. Cafe Society
Think of it as the office canteen. "I actually write best with some minor distractions," says Kelly James-Enger (Did You Get The Vibe? 2003). She enjoys writing at Starbucks, "where the people talking and espresso machines . . . blend into a kind of white noise." Likewise, Stephanie Lehmann (Thoughts While Having Sex,2003) says, "I prefer to go out to write. I do like having noise and people around when I'm thinking." Lehmann wrote the first draft of her novel by hand "in three coffee places in my neighborhood. . . . Then I transcribed what I'd written onto the computer at home."

If you're worried about coffee bar pickup artists bugging you, do what I do--wear headphones with the radio turned off, and underneath these, earplugs. Plus your favorite set of coffee-stained sweats. Works every time.

3. Your Cube Squared
Before I could afford a computer and Internet access, I converted my day-job cubicle into an early morning writing space. It wasn't easy dragging my butt into the office before dawn, but once there, what else could I do but write? Not a morning person? Try a swing shift in your cube or a weekend office retreat. To create symbolic creative space, clear your desk of any day-job reminders and light a candle. Writing in timed intervals helps too.

4. Hotel Lobbies
In my starving writer days, I was Stealth Writer. And hotel lobbies were my favorite haunt. To avoid looking like a bum eyeing the chicken wings, or an aging call girl hitting on the guests, I dressed in my leftover power suit, then packed a few writing supplies in my briefcase and headed to the nearby Marriott, where I sat in the lobby and wrote to the sound of live piano music. Stealth Writer strikes again.

5. Public Transportation
Step out of the driver's seat and let the world flow by--like ideas through the mind. What better place to do this than during your daily commute or a spontaneous bus ride? "The Long Island Railroad, the NYC subway system, the railroad that runs along the Hudson, the bus," writer Sally Jane Driscoll offers by way of example. "Any commuting time that wasn't driving was an instant office-maker, as long as I had pen and paper."

6. RV Lifestyle
A few bumps in the road never bothered women's fiction writer Kirsten Akens. "I have written in an RV. . . . There's nothing like traveling along and encountering 'bumps in the road' (potholes, horses on the eastern plains of Colorado, a bug smushed on the windshield) to elicit similar bumps--I like to think of them as creative spurts--in your writing."

But you don't have to drive cross country to get away from the distractions back home. Park your trailer or RV in the driveway and walk to work. "Writing romance in our motor home gives me a chance to think outside the box," says mystery and romance writer Lynnette Baughman. "There's a certain zing that comes from being free of the restrictions I inadvertently slap on my imagination. . . . [At home] over my computer are pictures of my adult daughters and their small children. And I think that subliminal reminder that 'they will read this!' cools my prose down, something like a cold shower. "

7. Your Car or Van
Speaking of vehicles, consider converting your car or van into a mobile office. Several companies manufacture equipment for just this purpose, geared mostly toward traveling salespeople, but writers can benefit as well. Mobile Office Outfitter at www.mobilegear.com, for instance, sells everything from mobile file organizers for your trunk to mobile office desks and laptop battery chargers for the front seat area. And their L-shaped van desks inspire visions of private and spacious nomad writing. Just don't forget to invest in a Port-a-Potty while you're at it.

"In many ways," says writer Sally Jane Driscoll, "my car is ideal [for writing], as long as it's parked in a public place for safety and near a light for when it starts to get dark. . . . I've written a hell of a lot in my various cars over the years." So did Raymond Carver, and he was no slouch.

8. Malls and Stations
Check out the food court areas in a mall or big-city train station. These off-site options offer the added benefit of an all-day waiter-free zone. Writer Sally Jane Driscoll recommends places like "downstairs in Grand Central Station in the food court section. There's a great area with tables and chairs in the center of the food court, partially walled, that's fairly private and quiet. A bonus is that you can watch all the people if you get a good table."

9. Love Boat
Hold on--I'm not advocating an expensive cruise. But how about investing in a floating studio, or a dry-docked one? That's what Tina Wainscott (Now You See Me, 2002) did, christening her boat with the name Rough Draft. "While I love being able to [write] full-time, I sometimes get very restless," Wainscott explains. "I even tried to sit in different rooms of the house, but I still felt edgy and wasn't as productive on those days. When my husband proposed we get a boat, one of his selling points was that I could use it as a part-time office. . . .  Since having access to an escape, I don't get those restless days anymore. Getting out of the house frees and opens my mind, and more importantly, I'm away from the temptation of the Internet and email."

10. The Great Outdoors
With summer here, consider mother nature as your off-site space. Wainscott recommends "a park or the beach or anywhere you can still work but get a new perspective." Or, how about camping with a fellow writer as a retreat? "I have written when we went camping," says Shirley Jump (The Bachelor's Dare, 2003) " . . . both in the tent when it rained and at the rickety picnic table. . . . The early morning campers looked at me like I was quite weird, sitting there, banging away on my Quickpad."

But, you say, you need cork-lined walls and total isolation. Not necessarily. "The secret is . . . desperation," says Eileen Rendahl (Do Me, Do My Roots, 2004). "Also the deeper I get into a book, the easier it is to ignore everything else."

"When I am focused on writing," adds women's fiction writer Elizabeth Springer, "I can write with anything going on. I like going to the beach--on the strand--with people walking, skating or cycling by, the surf roaring and the sun blazing down. I like the energy going on around me." Wainscott would concur: "It only looks like I'm relaxing. I've got books and notepads, weighed down if it's windy, and when I look out over the mangrove islands, the marina, or watch dolphins passing by, I'm really inspired. . . . I love being outside!"

11. Libraries
Urban writers can choose from a variety of public and private library writing spaces. "The Mercantile Library on 47th Street [in New York] rents spaces for writers," says G. Miki Hayden (Writing the Mystery, a Macavity winner) by way of example. "Thomas Cook writes there when he's around."

Or, check out university libraries and computer labs. With their late hours, writing carrels and study rooms they make great off-site offices. If your local university requires a student ID to access to their facilities, consider signing up for an extension course and finishing your book there instead.

12. Your "Off-site" Garage, Attic or Basement
Some writers want the best of both worlds: an off-site writing studio, plus low maintenance personal grooming. This is possible if you've got the patience and the power tools--like Christina F. York (Star Trek The Next Generation: A Time for Silence, 2004) and her writing partner/husband, who are renovating their home to include two "off-site" offices. "When we moved in," York explains, "I got the attic and Steve got the garage. My space was usable, his was completely unfinished. He has been in the second bedroom while we renovated, and recently moved into his new space. . . . We treat these spaces as if they were off site. . .  . [They] are physically separated from the rest of the house . . . while the commute is still only a few feet."

13. The Tool Shed
What if you want to write farther afield than the basement, but not too far? Consider installing a prefab shed in your backyard. Or converting the old one. That's what Dylan Thomas did. And look what happened to him. Years after his death, tourists still flock by the thousands to visit his famous writing shed. Originally a boathouse, later a garage, the shed was described by Dylan as a "sea-shaken house on the breakneck of rocks."

Lad-lit writer Nick Earls (Two to Go, 2003) has called his shed a writing home since 1995. "We had it built somewhere else and brought in on a huge truck and lowered onto footings." Earls is especially proud of the shed's kitschy professional allure. "It has the faux-heritage look of a top-of-the-range real estate agent's on-site office. And it's even better than I'd hoped,"  Earls adds. "One third of it is a windowless insulated room in which I can store manuscripts, etc. (etc. being 600 bottles of wine), the other two thirds is the room I work in."

14. The House Next Door
Some writers are so dedicated they buy a second house just for writing. True crime and women's fiction writer Lyn Lawrence (For The Weekend, 2003) is doing just that. "The house next door to me is for sale at a very reasonable price," Lawrence explains. "So my writing partner and I are preparing to buy it and set up our offices there. We often do all-night writing jags, so we will furnish a couple of bedrooms as well, but the main purpose will be for our writing."

15. Artist's Studio Space
You don't have to have paint under your fingernails to rent an artist's studio. Novelist Heather Lee Schroeder was inspired to find an off-site studio after spending four weeks at the Vermont Studio Center for a writing retreat. "I learned from the visual artists at VSC that a better way to think of your daily work is to consider it 'studio practice'," Schroeder relates. "That takes the terror out of writing."

Artist lofts and converted warehouses in your area may have empty rooms to rent. Check the listings at a local art league or college, or the nearest chapter of Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts. Their St. Louis chapter offers a free online Guide to Leasing Studio Space at www.vlaa.org/publications.asp

16. Residential Hotels & Motels
These can be expensive, and depending on the location and the residents, even dangerous. But it is possible to find a safe residential hotel room. Maya Angelou did. According to anecdotal legend, she does her best writing in a rented hotel room, to which she brings nothing but herself, her writing instruments and The Bible. Another writer, Heidi Brumbaugh relates her positive motel experience: "The last time I went on a writer's retreat . . . I closed myself up in a motel room in Ben Lomond and pored over my laptop, ten, twelve hours a day, writing literally tens of thousands of words and finishing the first draft."

17. Writing Cooperative
We writers may be lone wolves in our writing habitats, but we can still band together. Take The Grotto, for instance, a San Francisco writing cooperative founded by Po Bronson (What Should I Do with My Life? 2002). It began in 1994 as a rented apartment with six rooms, then expanded into a former veterinary hospital, with twenty-two private studios. "We like it because it gets us out of he house," explains Bronson on his website. "[And] because these days, editors don't have the luxury of holding our hands or bailing us out of our crises of confidence, so we support each other."

18. Commercial Space
At a certain point in your career, it might make sense to rent a "real" office. Consider a room in a small business center that offers everything from secretarial support to audio and video conferencing. Or create your own small business setup the way Debbie Macomber (Changing Habits, 2003) did. "When I decided to become a novelist," Macomber relates, "I was a stay-at-home mother who'd only worked briefly for an insurance company before the birth of our first child. Ten years after I sold my first book I made the leap into leasing an office for two reasons: 1) I wanted to be part of the business community and 2) I wanted a means of keeping my business life separate from my family life. I didn't have any magic formula that said I could afford to rent an office when I made such and such amount of money. From the very first it was a leap of faith.

"My current office is on two levels," explains Macomber, "the main level consists of desks for one full-time office manager, a part-time bookkeeper and a part-time assistant to the office manager, plus all the usual office equipment, storage, mini lunch/break room with microwave, mini refrigerator, etc.. The second level is actually a turret, which is where my desk is set up with bookshelves and private bathroom."

It's writer heaven for Macomber, but the climb there was steep. "The best advice I can give someone ready to make the leap into a rented space is to begin small. I didn't start with a big office and staff. My first move in this direction was one part-time employee and a second desk set up in my home office. Only later did I rent space as I became increasingly aware of all that an assistant did to uncomplicate my life."

Going There

While an off-site space gives you room to create, it won't cure writer's block. For that, a writer must also clear some inner real estate, then guard it with her life. "[Inner space] is what I need to write, no matter where I am," explains Melissa Senate (The Solomon Sisters Wise Up, 2003). "The good thing for me is that writing seems to create that space in me." Sally Jane Driscoll agrees: "The art is what I am at all times, not what I do in an office." And for writer Donna Caubarreaux, "Sometimes when writing, it's like I'm not 'here' . . . I'm 'there' . . . wherever that may be."

Virginia Woolf would smile in her grave.

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