Not really, I made that up. Technically, today is Marla Shows You Her Office Day; it’s just not as catchy!
The other day I was sitting in my co-working space wondering what I should write about this week. I was looking around, thinking how much I love going into my office, when it hit me: I should give you a tour!
I have a desk at home but there are also cats and laundry and plants that need watering and trash that needs taking out — and sometimes that makes it hard to get actual writing done.
So when I saw a post on social media that Switchyards was opening a new location in East Austin, in a building that used to be Owen’s Garage, I signed up for my own tour, and on the day registration opened up, I set an alarm — two, actually — to make sure I got one of the surprisingly inexpensive memberships.
Readers, I love it here. The ambience is 10/10, and it’s open 24/7 so you can keep your muse up as late as you want.
Ready? Let me show you around. Picture low cafe music playing in the background — or press play on one of their Spotify playlists — and imagine the smell of fresh-brewed coffee. (I’m usually already caffeinated when I arrive, but I’m addicted to the smell!)
This is the view when you walk in the front door:
It took me a mere two months to figure out that this stood for Switchyards – East Austin and it wasn’t for toddlers to learn how to sound out the word “seat”:
This is why it always smells like coffee:
The sunny back room, from where I’m writing this post:
Most tables have a tray full of stationery and a cup full of pencils all sharpened to the same length. You can take meeting notes or jot ideas. I usually write a short note about what I did that day or something funny I noticed about one of my co-workers. I keep them in a folder at home, kind of like a timesheet. (The notes, not the co-workers.)
You can never have too many pencils.
Oh, and the stickers! There are always plenty of stickers:
Standing tables made out of old scaffolding:
Need to drown out the cafe ambience? The quiet room has a library table, a white noise machine, and strict rules about not talking. (It’s usually full of people working heads-down during the day, but it clears out around happy hour.)
So that’s it! This is where I go when I need to focus. Or when, say, my blog post is due. 🙂
Readers: Where do you like to work? At home? Coffee shop? Library? And what do you look for in a good workspace?
MARLA COOPER is the author of the Destination Wedding Mysteries and “Welcome to Cozy Town,” an absurdly cozy mystery short. Currently living in Austin with her husband and an ever-increasing quantity of rescue cats, Marla is the Vice President of Sisters in Crime Heart of Texas chapter. Learn more at www.marlacooper.com.
Chicks on the Case 
Marla, that looks like heaven! My office is a desk in the corner of the master bedroom.
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Thanks, Mary! If you’re ever in Austin, come join me. They let you bring guests! 🙂
P.S. My desk at home is similarly situated to yours, and I usually just end up sitting in bed with my laptop (unless there’s a Guppies Zoom, of course!)
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My space to work on my blog and quilts is a nook off the kitchen with plenty of window for outside viewing.
I love your new work space. Nice and roomy.
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I love a sunny kitchen nook with a view!
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Wow, great place to visit for coffee! I like working in my back office with the windows looking out over the garden and the little black pug behind me on the couch snoring.
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Awwww, that sounds lovely! The garden + black pug snoring is one thing no office can replicate.
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Yes, I would be too busy looking around and making up stories about the other patrons that getting my 3rd novel of the trilogy finished would be impossible!
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I used to be able to focus at home, but now I get too easily distracted. By the time I get ready and drive somewhere else, I’m usually good for about four hours. At home? Anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour before I get pulled away. My house/family/cats have become really good at pulling focus! 🙂
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The little pug is the best background noise! 🙂
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He is! I do love him! He is my second novel, Iago known as Thatcher is in my first novel.
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I need quiet when I work–no music, no talking–as I’m so easily distracted. I was the only attorney at my law firm who kept her door closed (though everyone knew they could always come in), because I always found the chit-chat that was happening out in the hallway SO much more interesting than the boring legal briefs I was composing.
Luckily, I have my own office at home, where I can close the door to block out any fascinating chit-chat from Robin or others who may be around…
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I agree! I often end up in the quiet room when people are people-ing. 🙂
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I’ve always needed a closed office door too. I know that makes me seem anti-social…
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What a great environment! I think I might be too distracted by how wonderful it is to get too much done :).
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Ha! Same!
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I’m way more distracted at home — but the quiet room is a low-stimulus environment, so I end up in there a lot. The lamps are strategically situated where you don’t really notice the other people in the room. And bonus: there’s nothing there I have to clean! 😂
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What a beautiful space, Marla! I’m usually writing at my kitchen table, though I have a little nook for Zoom calls. The other day, though, I had to work in a coffee shop. I prefer silence while writing (like Leslie), but I was pretty productive with other folks tapping away on their laptops and with the coffee machine brewing drinks.
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I love subtle coffee shop sounds. I used to listen to cafe ambient noise on Coffitivity — especially for late-night writing sessions so I could pretend everyone else was awake and doing things with me! The key is when it’s a subtle murmur and not actual noise. It’s a fine line!
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Very true!
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I’m back to working from home full time, and I love it. Don’t have the co-worker gossip to distract me. And I can control the temperature (I’m always cold in the office). I can run before I log in or at lunch time (depending on temps) and when I log out, I’m already at home.
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I would take working at home over an actual office with real coworkers any day of the week! And good point about the temperature — if they didn’t happen to have it at the perfect temp, it would be a deal breaker!
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Why are offices always so cold?
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I work at home, in the cone of silence that is our home office. (Although two days a week, Jer’s also here on Work from Home days.) I admire people who can work in a beautiful space like this. It ain’t me!
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Ha! Apparently I’m an outlier here! I like a little bit of ambience, but it sounds like I’m the only one, at least among the Chicks!
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Wendall Thomas writes in coffee shops. I admire you both!
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Nope, there’s me! (About to comment below)
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Marla, I am your Chickie of the heart because I, too, love writing in coffee shops. My first choice used to be Starbucks because it was always so…predictable. Their playlists always worked for me. I like having company when I write, but not having to interact. And I also get distracted by things I need to do around the house. I move around a lot, but my favorite spot is the breakfast bar, which drives my hubby nuts (“But you *have* an office…”) It’s a long drive to any coffee shop for me now (40 mins) so I try to recreate the atmosphere at home with online co-working sessions and headphones. I’ll check out the Switchyards playlists, thanks!
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Thank you, Lisa! Wish you lived closer — I’d take you with me! I totally get what you’re saying about moving around the house. I have no fewer than five different spots I work in, and none of them are my desk! That has become the place I go for Zooms, but write at it? No way!
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Marla, what a beautiful space! What a fabulous idea! I love it. Thank you so much for giving us this tour. I work from my home office. I love the space. And I think my imaginary friends do too.
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Thank you! It’s been good for me. It gives me a reason to put on real clothes (a bra, even!) and get out of the house. Basically, it helps me overcome the bad habits I’ve developed over time — including the isolation of the pandemic!
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Hestia here. I try to write at home, but the hubbs always seems to demand my attention. Only when I’m writing. So I try once a week to go to a coffee shop to write. Once I retire it wi be easier, because I can set up a real writing space. But yes, it’s definitely easier to write where you don’t live. At least that’s my site, and I’m sticking to it
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I hear you! I also like variety more than routine, so part of the fun is not being at the same desk every day. My hubs is an introvert so he’s more than happy when I go write and he can go do his introvert things. 😂
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Of course it happens when you want to write…
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What a cool place to work! I would want to go there all the time instead of *waves at my office, aka the couch.*
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See? That’s the problem! I’m much more likely to end up on the couch or back on my bed instead of at my desk. I feel much more official when I am encouraged to sit up straight and not wear pajama pants. 😂
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That’s a super cool place! My favorite writing place is our patio when the weather is nice. Indoors, I alternate between my living room recliner and my office desk.
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Gorgeous! And what a deal!
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