Where do you write?

I work from home. I don’t have a fancy office setup in a fabulous den or anything – I work at an old Ikea dining table in the living room, which holds my laptop on one end and my roommate’s various and sundry computer bits on the other. I use a dining chair, even thought it kills my back. And when my ass starts to hurt, I move to the couch.

I don’t do a lot of remote work. I’ve tried a few times to sit outside and get my daily dose of Vitamin D from the sun, but sunshine and laptops do not always go well together. The screen becomes black from reflection, and I have to squint to make out headlines, let alone smaller text. So those romantic ideas of working on the beach? Hooey. I tried working by the pool in Hawaii once, and were it not for a really, really big umbrella, I never would have gotten anything done. Not to mention that working seriously cut into my margarita time. What was I thinking??

Then there’s the remote “Starbucks” thing. I do this only when I have a large project in a word processor, and no need of the Internet. Why? Because Starbucks charges thirteen bucks a freakin’ day for Internet access! Zut alors! I left that kind of luxury behind when I left the corporate world of expense accounts and company credit cards. If I have a bit of fiction, it’s fine to sit there sipping a latte and soaking in the atmosphere. But for net work? No way.

Fact is, I don’t roam much with my laptop. Chair to couch and back is about the extent – I have a 17″ Dell Inspiron (hot pink!) that weighs about the same as a toddler. I like the idea of having a full keyboard and number pad, but I hate lugging it around. If I’m away overnight, I’ll take it with me. But if I’m covering a story on site somewhere, I’m more likely to blog from my BlackBerry or borrow a friend’s netbook.

Recently I’ve re-discovered the joy of the public library. Again, great for non-net work. In Toronto, our libraries don’t offer WiFi, which is frankly retarded. They offer Internet accessible computers, but you can’t use the ‘net from your own. However, it’s quiet. Quieter than Starbucks. Used to be that mommies brought their kids to the library, so hipsters would hang out at Starbucks. Now it’s the other way around. Anything to get away from the yummy-mummys with their Mercedes-like prams and caterwauling children while we try to get some work done.

Here in Toronto there’s one chain of cafés that offer free WiFi – Café Urbana. But my nearest one is a 3 mile walk. See previous comment about the weight of my laptop.

So for the most part you’ll find me in my little basement apartment, trying to catch a bit of sunlight from the street-level windows while I work.

Where do you work?