Where We Write...
“Setting” is not just an element of what we write, it is crucial in terms of where we write. I, for one, love to write in libraries… away from my e-mail, phone, laundry, teaching materials, and very cute puppy. I’ve done some of my best writing in libraries, and really, one library in particular:
The Jonathan Bourne Library, in Bourne, MA.
For the past three years, my daughter has attended a school about 30 miles from home.
I live halfway out on the peninsula of Cape Cod, and my daughter’s school is located in Bourne, right near the Cape Cod Canal. It’s a great school, and it was worth the drive, but it was still a challenge to do all that driving. How did I “make lemonade?” I made the library right near her school my home away from home. Most mornings, I would drop my daughter off at the Waldorf School, take a half hour walk along the Canal, and be at the library by 9 a.m. when it opened.
Walking path along the Cape Cod Canal
After I lost my favorite library table due to a rearrangement, I’d sit in a little table in the children’s section, so I could be surrounded by all those wonderful books. (I feel at home in those little chairs… I was once a kindergarten teacher!)
But now my daughter has changed schools. No more Bourne Library! I went in the other day to say goodbye. I took photos. I will miss it. I now need to search, and find just the right combination of friendly, quiet setting… well-lit…good tables… great poetry section…. good reference section… and good coffee nearby. Hmmm…. I’ll keep you posted.
Terry, the cheerful children's librarian
The Jonathan Bourne Library, in Bourne, MA.
For the past three years, my daughter has attended a school about 30 miles from home.
I live halfway out on the peninsula of Cape Cod, and my daughter’s school is located in Bourne, right near the Cape Cod Canal. It’s a great school, and it was worth the drive, but it was still a challenge to do all that driving. How did I “make lemonade?” I made the library right near her school my home away from home. Most mornings, I would drop my daughter off at the Waldorf School, take a half hour walk along the Canal, and be at the library by 9 a.m. when it opened.
Walking path along the Cape Cod Canal
After I lost my favorite library table due to a rearrangement, I’d sit in a little table in the children’s section, so I could be surrounded by all those wonderful books. (I feel at home in those little chairs… I was once a kindergarten teacher!)
But now my daughter has changed schools. No more Bourne Library! I went in the other day to say goodbye. I took photos. I will miss it. I now need to search, and find just the right combination of friendly, quiet setting… well-lit…good tables… great poetry section…. good reference section… and good coffee nearby. Hmmm…. I’ll keep you posted.
Terry, the cheerful children's librarian