Tuesday Smackdown: Working from Home–Dream or Nightmare
April: Writing is a solitary profession. Find a desk, a chair, a piece of the ground and start writing. You can take it anywhere and one of the most comfortable places to take it, is home. In fact, it’s probably the biggest draw for new writers… the thing they dream about most — quitting the day job, firing their boss, and spending time in the cozy confines of a snuggly comfy office.
It’s the first thing most writers dream about when they imagine their perfect day. Wake up, get the kids off to school, and then grab a hot cup of Jo and settle down to a morning of uninterrupted writing time. The reality however is far from ideal. After two terms of unemployment whereby I “lived” the writers life, I can tell you it’s not all it can crack up to be.
Yes, it’s lovely to have uninterrupted writing time in the comfort of your own office (if you have one). But that uninterrupted time to yourself really begins to wear on you. Soon, you’re hankering to go somewhere exciting—someplace wild like… the library. Or socialize—if you’re socially anemic like me, you’re stuck on an endless loop with just yourself as company. You start to get itchy, you just need to get out of the house, do something different, meet some people… DO something to get away from what you used to think of as a haven and is now becoming a dungeon.
If you don’t have any money, you’re stuck with nowhere to go. Acerbate that with no cable TV and you’re really in for utter boredom. Soon even the writing dries up. You crave going back to work—just to get away from yourself.
Work and homelife also begins to blur. Soon you’re working during family time, unable to disconnect the two. Soon, you begin to forget to make dinner, the kids become cranky from lack of attention, and the hubby is ready to divorce you because you never have any time together…
Kendal: You make very good cons on why it might be a negative to stay home, but list as many as you want ’cause until I get my chance I don’t think my dream will ever change! Here’s why: I’d be my own boss (until I land a dream contract and have an editor and an agent making demands), I get to have a whooping zero dollar commute cost (I currently have a 155 km commute per day = about an hour and a half each way). There are other benefits to working from home, such as being able to do your shopping in off hours and not having to deal with hoards of rude shoppers. Being about to cook more healthy meals. To be honest, I am huge at getting my lunchs on the run and ordering in dinner after long days at the office. I think I’d be healthier all around too because I would make time to go to the gym routinely. This might help with your concern about not having social life.
Now onto actually writing reasons I’d want to stay home. There are so many online courses I want to take to better my craft and skills, but I haven’t because, let’s face it, there are only so many hours in the day. I dream of the time when I might actually work from home and have time to ‘do it all’. I’m currently self-employed so I understand the importance of turning off the tv and committing to daily, weekly, and monthly goals.
If I was at home writing full time I would finally have enough time to blog, forum hop, take courses, volunteer for extra stuff like contest judge, etc, Oh, and of course write. Plus, if I wanted to go to a conference or an RWA meeting I can! I currently work straight weekends and it sucks huge. I never see my DH because he works a 9-5 job with weekends off. So staying home for me, makes sense and is a dream. Could I even consider it if DH didn’t have a regular job with a steady paycheck and benefits? I doubt it. The stress to be successful in a career that is difficult to break into would be something I doubt I could handle.
There are ways around the lack of social time if you are an at home writer, and they don’t have to cost a lot of money either. Join a few forums, take an hour a day and go to the gym, take an online class and meet other people, walk the dog (cat, rabbit, guinea pig), grab your laptop and write somewhere different like the library, a coffee shop etc. Take one afternoon a week and make a lunch date with a friend. Anyway you slice it, I’m not going to complain about it! Maybe it’s one of those things that you have to experience to see the negative side of, but until I’m there, I’m still keeping the dream!
April: All of that sounds nice but when you’re under deadline and those goals of going to the gym or setting up lunch dates quickly fall to the wayside. The project will come first.
Yes, I love the idea of working from home, having a five minute commute (I also commute long distances, nearly a total of 2 hours a day), and I absolutely love knowing that the next day is all mine when I go to bed at night.
Certainly, I know those options you’ve mentioned Kendal are available BUT I also know me… and I know that no matter my intentions; I know that I’ll really need something or someone that motivates me to get out of the house on a daily basis.
My writing dream lives on, not because I want a home office (a drawback for me) but because I love writing down my stories, manipulating my words to get the right tone and feeling, the process of creating… that’s what I get excited about. I get excited about the fans and the idea that my story will touch someone and make a difference for them, even if only for a few hours.
Sure, I love the idea of being my own boss… but my dream now includes an office close to my kid’s school with an assistant who helps me keep on track with the days of the week, my appointments, exercising daily, and basically keeping me on track. I admit it—I want a keeper, someone that will keep me connected and active.
Otherwise I might just get lost in myself.
Anyone else have this experience working from home for prolonged periods or do you think I’m completely nuts…. Share your opinion and experiences!!!!
Home is where I can (theoretically, at least) control my environment. My sights, sounds, scents. With two now working (theoretically, at least) from home, things have changed somewhat. My home is not always my haven. I now dream of a space where I don’t have to sacrifice inner harmony for the sake of outer. Not sure it exists.
Yes, working from home means I work sporadically and at odd hours, but I am most productive when I structure my time my way.
peace & passion,
~ Alessia
I’m very lucky to be able to write from home and not have to deal with a 9-5 job. I have a very supportive and understanding partner who works her butt off so that I can do just that. I also don’t have any kids to worry about taking time away from my writing either.
I have a fairly regular schedule. Up by 8, shower, dressed, sit down and sign into IM because that’s how my writing partner and I do our writing, through instant messenger. My partner and my co-author work at the same law firm, so my writing day is usually during those work hours, about 8:30 to 4:30. When my co-author leaves work for home, that’s when I stop writing, get the housecleaning done and start dinner. If I have edits or a deadline looming, I’ll usually throw in some hours in the evening and again, I’m very lucky that my partner is so understanding and supportive because she never minds.
Weekends I tend to block out at least one of those days for just me and my partner time. Even something as simple as going to the mall shopping or sitting around playing video games together is quality time. I get out of the house plenty, sometimes I’ll head downtown and meet the two of them for lunch near their office, we’re usually out and about on the weekend, we like to have friends come over and entertain…I get plenty of social interaction despite working from home.
It’s a dream, really, and I know every day how blessed I am to have my life.
Alessio!!!!
You have an inkling of how I feel about working from home!!! I’m glad I’m not completely alone. I imagine if I could have a room that has a door and I had the kids away during my work time, I might not cringe as much about working from home. But yes, your office should be a haven… a place where you go to do your most exciting work.
It’s a balance.
April
Fae,
No wonder you’re so successful. You’re able to manage your biggest resource – YOU… I think every wanna-be writer is drooling at your description. Personally, I’m taking notes. If I could manage my life as well as you do, I’d be in the groove.
Willpower!!! That’s what I need. Willpower and good planning. And a way to get inside Fae’s mind for a few hours to soak up her wealth of knowledge and ability to plan.
April
Great arguments on both sides. I’ve heard agents prefer authors who keep their day job at least initially. The other job forces them to use their time wisely so they can end up being more productive.
I have sort of the best (or worst) of both worlds. I have a job that takes up more than 40 hours a week, but I work from home. I love the flexibility. If I want to sneak in a couple of chapters during the day or surf the writers’ forums, no one’s looking over my shoulder. At the same time, I’m in front of the computer all the time for my real life job. Sometimes at the end of the day, I’ve got nothing left and I still stare at my manuscript without being able to touch it — despite having all that time.
I write best when I’ve had time to go outside and mix and mingle. I like people watching at the mall and working up a sweat at the gym. I have to build in these excuses to experience the outside world since I work from home. There’s enough stimulus online to keep me blindly occupied, but not enough to make me want to create. So know thyself, I suppose is the motto of this post. Know your work habits and quirks and find what works.
Chi,
Great throughts. And I agree completely. You have to make yourself get out of the house. You just have to… or you’ll drive yourself into the ground with work, lack of stimulus, and lack of social interactions.
Know thyself.
The creed to live by.
April
I managed to combine the two this last year. I got a two book contract that wouldn’t pay me enough to replace the day job but it did allow me to change jobs so I’ve gone from full time to three days a week and that gives me two days writing time. I like this combo – sometimes i crave more writing time as those two days soon vanish once I’ve collected the kids, shopped, cooked lunch, run to the post office etc but it has allowed me to focus more on what i want and to prioritise writing as my career rather than as an add on. Now if I can just get a bigger contract….
Nell,
From what I’ve read of yours… it’s coming… keep at it!!!!
April
As always, you ladies have picked a great subject and I agree with Alessia. My work, my space, my haven – invade it, even with the best of intentions, and cracks appear.
The best advice that was given to me when I first started was to make a work schedule that fit me and stick to it – no matter where you are. With that in mind, I created a habit of roughing out a schedule of what I want to accomplished writing-wise each week and then let life have its say
As for the social life, as in talking with other authors, that has become the signings: once a month, we gather up, sell books and chatter. In fact, I think our pleasure in being in each others company often draws more people to our tables. The only other fixed thing for me is Thursday when I run errands – marketing, bank, post office, birthdays, etc., they have to get day so why not set a day aside and claim it for me?
There’s definitely up’s and down’s about working from home, but stand up for your career choice and hash the details out with the family. Hopefully they want you to be happy and not constantly fighting for time to write.
Both my hubby and I work mainly from home and although it is great because we get to see each other occasionally and make each other cups of tea, it has had a tendency to take over our private lives so quite often we’re both working late and don’t really ever relax.
I also think it takes quite a lot of discipline to work at home and deal with the solitariness-I happen to like it when I’m all by myself and the kids are at school or college, but some people need others around them.
I appreciate the fact that I can stay at home financially-I don’t think I could manage a job and 4 kids and a writing career LOL I’m impressed by people who can.
Tilly,
It’s a great idea to have one day, an afternoon that you religiously get out and about. That has to break things up. You definitely do have to stand up to relatives and friends about your writing time… it can so easily get away from you if you don’t!
April
Kate,
I love the idea of working from home, definitely love being solitary …. I do need the kick in the pants to get out and about. And I do allow my writing to invade personal time with my family. So true.
You also probably wouldn’t get as much writing done if you didn’t work at home :> That’s another facet you have to look at.
April