In early July 2002 when I first began my daily writing regimen, I was in Detroit and was to meet my dear friend R. K. Jones for breakfast. He suggested we meet at the Ten Eyck Room at the storied Dearborn Inn for what called “a big fat breakfast.” I gladly agreed as this was in my old St. Sarkis Church, Ford Motor Company, and University of Michigan – Dearborn stomping grounds. I left my parents home with plenty of time to get there and do my daily writing before I was to meet Bob.
It was a lovely temperate sunny morning in Detroit. When I got to the Dearborn Inn, I found the lobby empty as it was early on a Saturday morning. The lobby was well appointed in I will call a Fordian/Detroit version of American Colonial décor. There was a beautiful desk and chair in the corner that invited me to sit there in write and gave me a perfect view of the entrance so I could easily see when Bob arrived. I pulled the yellow legal pad from my briefcase, that I was using for my daily writing in those early days, and started writing.
I have no recall what I wrote that day. But I remember feeling very good, cool, stylish, sophisticated, basically like a real writer in that beautiful lobby. I also realized that I liked writing first thing in the morning.
Upon returning to Manhattan on Monday for work, I decided to stop off at the Barclay Hotel, two blocks from the Colgate offices. I sat in their beautiful lobby, which was bustling on that workday morning in Midtown, and wrote my page. Over the next four years, I had written on occasion in the Waldorf, the Inter-Continental, and other beautiful venues in New York. I didn’t do it every day, but I did when I wanted to recreate that feeling I had that lovely morning in the Dearborn Inn.
When travelling in Latin America, I stayed in lovely hotels, often Inter-Continentals in various cities in the region. I would often write in their lovely lobbies are at the breakfast table before ordering or hitting the buffet. There was a 40s or 50s elegant vibe about such. I am not certain if the writing was any better in these venues, but I simply felt very cool and some wonderful mixture of sophistication, panache, and savoir-faire doing so,
Upon starting up the daily writing regimen again, I felt that similar pang last week to write in an elegant venue. Where or where might I do that? Sure, my own house has that feel due to Judy’s design eye for classic/eclectic, décor. But I write at home often plus part of the hotel lobby allure is writing in a public space.
The hotels around us all had lobbies, but they were all clean, modern, our not spacious enough. Then I remembered the Lake Forest Library. This staid old, domed building, in town had two beautiful rooms. I recalled that when I first went to the library, I thought both of these rooms would be perfect for daily writing. It was the Friends Reading Room, however, that resonated more, reached out and said, “you belong in here.”
The room fit the bill perfectly. I sat and read a bit from one of the two books I have been reading and then set to write my daily page. It felt really comfortable.
Next stop in town is the Deer Path Inn for “a big fat breakfast,” certainly to write and think of my dear friend R. K.
