Write Around Tampa

Bassano Cheesecake Cafe

507 Main Street

Safety Harbor

I’m in love. This place is so festive, so charming, so full of creativity, I feel like I stepped into a Hallmark movie set. I’ve been looking for a place like this all my writing life. Found.

Quality and pricing of food and drink:

I’m upset I didn’t get here earlier and hungrier; the breakfast sandwiches are gone and the cheesecake looks delicious. I got a summer melon iced tea; refreshing and only $4.

Are there enough outlets?

Yes. I’m plugged in now.

How’s the wifi?

Password protected, written on the Bucs chalkboard. And hint, there's a story behind it.

Will my muse come out?

She’ll dance and clap and sing and shout ideas at you. The big screen television—tuned to Happy TV—posts their hours and shows clips of animals playing. Definitely the place to write a holiday bestseller. I was fortunate enough on this first visit to have the place to myself and I reveled in my own private writing room. And did I mention how comfy this chair I’m now sitting in is?

How long can I park it?

Until 9pm most nights, which I’ll definitely take advantage of during the slow winter season.

Final rating: 5 out of 5 laptops

Rachel Remick’s fiction and non-fiction stories have appeared in various magazines, among them Rosebud, Bluestem and ellipsis . . . literature and art. A frequent contributor to women’s magazine Sasee, her writing has also been published in several volumes of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series of books, the most recent of which, The Spirit of Christmas, went on sale October 14. She lives in Tampa, Florida.