I have been working from home for about 15 years now, and there are many benefits, but there are also many unseen problems. Today I am going to shed some light on a few of them I’ve learned the hard way.
Always Being at Work
The main problem with working from home is that you are technically always at your work site. You sit down to eat lunch, the phone rings, you’re expected to “be at work” and answer the phone. Then your mind begins a battle, “everyone deserves a lunch break” versus “what are you thinking, answer the phone, this is what clients do – they call you for an appointment.” It becomes very hard for your mind to separate work time and leisure time. Throw in writing time and it can result in more mind conversations that keep you busy but not a lot gets accomplished. “I’ll write during commercials” was one myth I told myself.
Another problem with working from home is that stuff needs doing at home. It makes me wonder how I ever got it all done before I began working from home. Anyway, if you’re considering working from home or you already are, you know how the many tasks pulling at us can make us scatterbrained. There’s always something to catch our attention.
Ready, Set, Where Did I Put….?
If you do work and write from home, aim to take breaks between writing times. Take a catnap. It sounds counterintuitive but it works. Rest, physical exercise, a little house cleaning, can make you feel better and help your mind calm down.
Okay, you’re ready to get started and write a novel in one night. What did you name your document? Where are your notes? Even the most organized among us looses things. When you are on your own, working from home, it can be easy to slip into putting things off when you can’t find what you’re looking for. However, here’s a tip for that situation. Always have more than one project going on. Can’t remember the name of one document? Begin another one or pick up where you left off on the story you were writing yesterday. Chances are, while you are writing something else, the name of your saved document will come to you.
Not Real Work
Despite the popularity of working from home, especially for writers, a lot of people still don’t recognize writing as “real work.” They don’t think twice about dropping by or, more likely, sending 50 texts about nothing so you won’t “get bored working by yourself.” Yikes! Don’t expect them to understand that distractions are like a two-year-old pulling at your ankles to a scatterbrained writer. Those same people don’t understand why there are houses called “writer’s cabins” and “writer’s retreats” for people to get away. “Can’t you just sit and write at home?” they will ask.
As you know, writing is real work. It extracts every emotion you have. The act of writing will work your facial muscles as though they are in Olympic training as you frown, freeze, squint and smile in front of a blank piece of paper or computer screen.
Are You A Morning or Night Writer?
You already know the answer to this question. I would love to be a morning writer. When I was a doctoral student, I tried very hard to be an early morning writer/reader, but I would find myself staring off into space not remembering a thing I had read. My body rhythm is basically set to the 3-11 shift. Sometimes I have to write against my “grain” but given a choice, I’ll save writing until night. How about you? If you naturally wake up early with a lot of energy, feeling alert and fresh, chances are you could write best in the morning hours. You’re one of those people I yearned to be because I thought it would be easier to get up an hour earlier and get a lot of work done. It wasn’t for me but it might be your golden hours.
Whatever your natural body energy rhythms, if you set those hours as your writing time, and guard against distractions, you will write more in the creative zone than the scatterbrained zone.
The Value of Being a Scatterbrained Writer
In closing, I began this article with the dangers of being a scatterbrained writer. However, I know there is value in being a scatterbrained writer, too. I’ll include myself in this group. We notice a lot of things, don’t we? Overheard conversations, a look we see one person give another, birds outside the window, a whiff of smells in a restaurant…they all get put into our writer’s compost pile to be used later. Writing dialogue, describing scenes and characters are often nourished by these snippets of saved experiences.
Patricia Brawley is a licensed therapist, consultant, and writer’s coach. After 20+ years of practicing meditation, she embraces the scatterbrained nature of mind.