16Apr

My Second Office

• Saved in: Dramatic Writing, Fiction Writing, Journalism, Mystery Writing, Personal Essay, Speechwriting, Writers, Writing Experiences
• by Chris Orcutt
• with 4 Comments

Writ­ing full-time is a lone­ly enter­prise.

Espe­cial­ly in the win­ter, and espe­cial­ly if you live in the boon­docks, have only one car, and the clos­est sem­blance of civ­i­liza­tion is a mile away.

I used to be con­tent work­ing alone from home all day long, but in the past year the silence has become oppres­sive. My only com­pa­ny where I live are the wood­peck­ers that gath­er out at the suet feed­er. Unfor­tu­nate­ly they’re not very good con­ver­sa­tion­al­ists.

Which is why, in recent months, I’ve been hik­ing into the Mill­brook Din­er every day.

Often before I even get inside, Ken­ny, Ran­di or Alex sees me com­ing from across the street, pours me a cup of cof­fee, and places it with the cross­word puz­zle at my reg­u­lar seat. A small act that, more than any­thing, makes this writer feel a lot less lone­ly.

I always exchange hel­los with Thanasi—the gra­cious owner—and some­times I vis­it with oth­er regulars—people whom I know only by first name, and with whom I inter­act only at the din­er. Reg­u­lars like Bill, who, at close to 80 years old, walks five miles with his wife every day. Or Wayne, a fas­ci­nat­ing, semi-retired man who flies planes and trains hors­es. Or Helen, an eru­dite Greek woman with a thou­sand sto­ries to tell.

I like to read in the din­er, but most­ly I drink a lot of cof­fee there, and I write. (Pop­u­lar def­i­n­i­tion of a writer: “a device that con­verts caf­feine into words.”)

Over the years I’ve writ­ten and edit­ed thou­sands of words in the Mill­brook Din­er. Sto­ries. Jour­nal entries. Exec­u­tive speech­es. Video scripts. Plays. And the Dako­ta nov­els (see ads to right). Most recent­ly was a 10-minute play for an upcom­ing play fes­ti­val.

What­ev­er I’ve been writ­ing, I’ve found the mild noise of the din­er to be cre­ative­ly stim­u­lat­ing. Also, the famil­iar­i­ty of the peo­ple and the sur­round­ings gives me a sense of com­mu­ni­ty, of con­nec­tion, that I need so I don’t feel so iso­lat­ed.

Who would have thought that a din­er could do all that?

The Mill­brook Din­er is my sec­ond office, and I thank Thanasi, his wife, and his staff for always mak­ing me feel so wel­come.

—Chris

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