I have an app on my computer that’s for studying. It’s a Virtual Cottage where you can set timer goals, and adjust the weather, the music and the fireplace. It’s good to put on sometimes when I don’t want to listen to what I usually do. I’ve been wanting to go outside more and see if I can find spots to write on morning walks and such, but I do like the ambience of cafes and libraries. And so I thought, imagine being in one virtually (mostly thinking about it this way because of covid) just to write. A place where you can adjust the ambience to suit you, but also meet other writers during your break times whilst you buy virtual coffee or check out virtual books. And maybe those virtual books are actually fun short stories left by other writers there… that sounds amazing. And now I’m going to write about it. Write about it until it becomes a thing.

Picture it. It’s made up of different levels and different nooks for different genres and reasons for being there. There’s a cafe on the ground and top floors. There are plenty of little study rooms, or group study tables, and little comfy hidden nests where the more introvert of us might like to pop into. Some levels have a different natural ambience, from windy forest to the seashore, and some are just like the night, quiet and cool and calming. There are vending machines near the bathrooms and drinking fountains that have stationary and mini-reads in them. But the mini-reads in them are recycled and you return them for your dollar back. Unless you want to keep them forever. And some people have started to figure out how to use it to leave love letters and pen pal short stories, swapping them and trying to find their partner’s like a fun gacha machine. There’s also literal gacha machines that have little cool collectables in them made by the art members of the library, and the coins used go towards free coffees for them. And on one floor, it’s just mossy mounds where you can lay and sketch and study and write until your heart’s content. And there’s a level that’s just filled with shelter pets that come up and write things on your keyboard. Or erase things. And there’s a level of birds that deliver mini notes of love and encouragement to everyone in the library … or we could just keep it simple.

If I had any idea what it took to build something like this, I think it would be a really fun project. Maybe I should take a look then.