Pitfalls of the Home Office
While I am grateful for being able to peer out at my backyard and patio while I write, I must admit that the home office isn't all it's cracked up to be. For example, I sat down to write an email to a friend over the weekend, and my son complained about me working. I guess, to a five year old, this chair = "working."
Last week I had a mysterious virus that slowed the heck out of my computer. But when I picked up the phone to call my IT Department, I remembered that no such thing exists. I was very frustrated.
Other pitfalls of the home office include the feeling that you're "always on" and the fact that household management can call you away at a moment's notice. And, even though my children are at school during my work hours, I still have to deal with the mail man, the UPS man, the dog, the neighbor's landscaper, the meter reader, and all kinds of other people who seem to be in cahoots in getting me out of my writing mode.
Still, I don't mean to complain. I do enjoy this little Room of My Own. So, where do you write?
Wow, in America I never had to deal with any of that stuff. The mail man left our mail in the mail box. UPS left packages at the door, and if I was in a mood to answer the door and heard her at the door, I would then say hi to Yoli. The meter reader, same thing, left them to it. I only answer the door if I absolutely have to. No dogs/pets to deal with. Now, on the other side of the coin, in the UK, it’s a bit different, since we have our meters “inside”. I know, completely nuts, but I pull the same rule and not answer the door. They usually leave a note, we read the meter, then leave the card where the meter reader can find it. It’s great.
I do most of my writing in my home office. The one disadvantage: I sometimes get stale from always working at home. Increasingly, I go to other places–cafes, parks, etc–and find that my writing is invigorated by the change of venue. I’m not alone. August Wilson and Natalie Goldberg both wrote in public places.
I write at home which, as mentioned, has the unpredictable interruptions from mail people and meter readers who ring the doorbell several times before giving up. Still, I refuse to answer the door for unannounced visitors of any kind, and while this occasionally results in the need to reschedule courier deliveries, it definitely cuts back on interruptions. I think it’s pretty important to consider the hours between 9 AM and 5 PM to be “work” hours, whether or not you’re actually writing during those hours, and to keep distractions to a minimum.
Montreal has a ton of cafés that offer free wifi, though, so if you ever get bored of the routine at home, it’s easy to take your laptop for a walk and get a change of scenery–as well as a change of menu!
It’s gotten easier now that my son is older because he understands ‘deadline’ much easier. If he is really bent on bugging me, as is the case sometimes, I make his a co-contributor on the project. I tell him what I’m working on and find some way he can help me get it done. Sometimes this is putting an address on an envelope, sometimes its much more involved such as finding relevant graphics in my personal image library. After a half hour of that he is happy to leave.
Truthfully, the people who bug me most are my parents, who admit they are bored and want to “shoot the breeze.” I’ve pretty much quit answering their calls when I’m working on something and call them back when I’m not.
I have a little room also but my husband goes off and does his own thing, all my girls are young adults so they can be told ‘go away, I’m working’, in so many words. Personally, I would think they other things are a choice to deal with. You could always set aside a block of time when you ‘can’t or won’t be interrupted’ this is only possible when young kids aren’t around or down for a nap.
What I deal with right now is working full time, commuting, not having a lap top, and a family who wants my time and attention. I can write while at work but there are constant interruptions and I can only draft items then edit later. The only real time I have to write is on the weekends. So my big battle is time to write!
Daniella, yeah I wasn’t clear: my dog goes absolutely NUTS when someone comes near the house. So I guess the real problem isn’t the visitors so much as the loud interruption that pulls me from whatever project I’m working on.
I have started writing late at night when everything is peaceful and quiet. Luckily I live in Spain where the siesta hours let me catch up on some zzzzz’s through the day.
Nice article…I do most of my writing in my home office, and the rest of the time I write in a coffee shop. I tend to do my best work in the mornings. The longer the day wears on, the more interruptions seem to come along.