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Art & Creativity Quote by James Rollins

"I do have an office where about 70 percent of my writing gets done, but sometimes it does get a bit stir-crazy to be cooped up in there, so I'll grab my laptop and write somewhere else: another room in the house, out on the patio, or even Heaven-forbid, a trip to Starbucks. But I also write on the road"

About this Quote

Rollins punctures the romantic myth of the writer as a monastic creature chained to a single sacred desk. He has an office, yes - the respectable, adult version of the “writing cave” - but he immediately undercuts it with bodily language: “stir-crazy,” “cooped up.” The subtext is blunt: productivity isn’t just inspiration, it’s ergonomics and mood management. The office is less a shrine than a default setting that eventually stops working.

The throwaway precision of “about 70 percent” is doing a lot. It’s not a boast about discipline; it’s a quiet flex about process. He tracks his habits like a working professional, not a tortured artist. That number implies experimentation and self-surveillance, the kind of incremental optimization you’d expect from someone who writes high-output, plot-driven fiction.

Then comes the punchline: “Heaven-forbid, a trip to Starbucks.” The joke isn’t really about coffee; it’s about writing’s cultural stereotypes. Starbucks stands in for the performative writer ecosystem - laptops, lattes, the public theater of creativity. By mock-clutching his pearls, Rollins signals he’s aware of the cliché and unashamed to use what works anyway.

Finally, “I also write on the road” widens the frame from cozy routine to professional mobility. This is the reality of a contemporary bestselling author: travel, deadlines, promo cycles. The intent is pragmatic reassurance: real writing survives imperfect conditions. The context is modern authorship as logistics - a portable craft, not a place.

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TopicWriting
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Rollins, James. (n.d.). I do have an office where about 70 percent of my writing gets done, but sometimes it does get a bit stir-crazy to be cooped up in there, so I'll grab my laptop and write somewhere else: another room in the house, out on the patio, or even Heaven-forbid, a trip to Starbucks. But I also write on the road. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-do-have-an-office-where-about-70-percent-of-my-102343/

Chicago Style
Rollins, James. "I do have an office where about 70 percent of my writing gets done, but sometimes it does get a bit stir-crazy to be cooped up in there, so I'll grab my laptop and write somewhere else: another room in the house, out on the patio, or even Heaven-forbid, a trip to Starbucks. But I also write on the road." FixQuotes. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-do-have-an-office-where-about-70-percent-of-my-102343/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I do have an office where about 70 percent of my writing gets done, but sometimes it does get a bit stir-crazy to be cooped up in there, so I'll grab my laptop and write somewhere else: another room in the house, out on the patio, or even Heaven-forbid, a trip to Starbucks. But I also write on the road." FixQuotes, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-do-have-an-office-where-about-70-percent-of-my-102343/. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.

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About the Author

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James Rollins (born August 20, 1961) is a Author from USA.

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