Coben rarely writes at home. Over the years he's drafted bestsellers at a supermarket deli counter, in public libraries, in coffee shops, and in the back of moving Ubers. His only rule is to sit wherever the pages come.
Anywhere But Home
For a writer who's published a book a year for decades, Coben keeps a loose relationship with his desk. He's admitted he isn't great at writing in the house, and his fix is simple: he leaves it. Coffee shops, public libraries, and grocery stores have all served as his office. The idea is to plant himself somewhere the laundry and the fridge can't interrupt him. As he's put it, his routine is to not have a routine.
The Deli Counter and the Uber Back Seat
The most quoted example is a stretch of roughly six months, while one of his sons was in high school, when Coben wrote at a Stop & Shop deli counter with a coffee stand next to it. The setting sounds absurd. The pages, he says, were good.
I came home smelling like olive loaf, but the pages were good.
Harlan Coben
He's just as happy writing on the move. While finishing The Stranger, he spent about three weeks writing in the back seats of Ubers because that's where the words kept flowing, and he closed out the book that way. The lesson he draws from all of it is to follow the productivity, not the setup.
The where is only half the story. See the full Harlan Coben writing routine for the schedule behind the locations.
What You Can Steal
- Leave the house. If home is full of distractions, a cafe or library can become your office.
- Follow the pages, not the place. Coben stays wherever the writing flows, even a deli counter.
- A perfect writing room is optional. He's produced bestsellers in a supermarket and a car.
- Drop a spot that stops working. His only real rule is whatever gets pages written.