We all have some past life events that we’d rather forget. Yet, often, these are the very stories that keep nudging and bugging us to give them air and write them down.

Last year, I had one of those particularly hard-to-write personal essays. After many botched drafts, I came up with a way to finally write the story. Then, I penned and published a how-to, craft piece, Writing Tough Stuff: 5 Tips to Make it Easier.

New in town? New at writing? Or you just want a place to go, a place to put some psychic distance between your day job and your writing? A coffee shop may work. However, not all cafés are created equal. As a lover of cafés, I offer six tips for “cofee-ing” and writing.