Day 14: Hudson Hotel

Day 14: Hudson Hotel.
386 West 58th Street.

I’d challenge anyone to try writing a novel in a New York nightclub on a Saturday night. Whilst drinking martinis. But the reality of summer holidays means the mornings are no longer available to me. So, yesterday I clocked on at 9pm and clocked off at, umm…
This is dangerous territory. The ghost of Hemingway looms large. Disappearing into the vast, pumping city is immensely appealing to this author (day or night) and when truffle popcorn is on offer, the hours easily slip away. When I emerged back onto the street the city was really just getting going, the subway packed, and if I’d had the energy could have found another venue no problem and kept writing. New York, as everyone knows, doesn’t sleep.
Now, down to brass tacks. How productive was I? Bearing in mind that it was too dark to read my notes, I could hardly hear myself think, and I was increasingly distracted by beautiful people dancing only feet away from me (oh, and the music was amazing – will definitely be taking Lynne here for a hot date soon), not to mention the martinis, I think I did OK.
My average word rate so far is (or rather, was, until last night) 823 words per hour. The first hour in the Hudson’s disco I managed: 686. Not shabby at all. However, the second hour produced only 410 words – which those mathematically inclined among you would note is but half my usual. But by golly it was a delight watching how the barman made that lemon twist.
And the third hour? Well, you might have thought it was a catastrophe and in fact I didn’t last a full 3rd hour. But pro-rata, it came to 548. Spooky. An inverse bell-curve.
The Hudson has more bars than I’ve ever seen in a hotel. I counted four on the lobby level alone. I’ve no idea which one I was in, but you can check out the place here: https://www.morganshotelgroup.com/…/hudson-new-yo…/eat-drink
My tip: go at 9pm when they’ll let in people with iPads intent on writing Middle Grade novels. After midnight the rope barrier comes out and you’ve got to get past security (and be waaay more beautiful than I am).