Having a room of one’s own is not a necessity but it is helpful. My writing space is a home office. I now use it to work from home several days a week for my ‘real’ job. Even though my employer gave us the option a long time ago, I didn’t take them up on it immediately. I worked from home when the weather was bad in the winter or if I had an appointment in the middle of the day, but I wanted to save that space for my writing. I thought it would make me avoid where I had to work for 40 hours each week. Well actually just 30 hours a week because I still go into the office one day a week. Just because I don’t want my supervisor to forget me or my parking ramp ID to quit working. Yes, that is a thing. It happens.
But the ability to work from home most of the week was too good to not take advantage of it. Who wouldn’t want to sleep in a little longer each day, save myself that 60-minute drive commuting and get up, have breakfast, get dressed and go to work in my own home? I am so much more productive. There is no one around to distract me and the bathroom is just down the hall. The one at work is at least a half block from where I sit. Granted I lost those Fitbit steps, but I have saved myself a lot of time that I can now use for my personal writing. When the weather is nice I can take a walk on my break or slip downstairs and ride my stationary bike for a while or do a little housework. Believe it or not, I have managed to dust and vacuum my whole house on my breaks and lunch time.
I work four tens which means that I work 10 hours a day, four days a week. Years ago, there were news articles that predicted Americans would soon all work a four-day work week. I waited decades for that to happen. Now that I am close to retiring, well at least in the next few years, it is an option.
So, I do work at home 30 hours a week now and it has not made me not want to use my office for my personal writing. If anything, I use it more often.
I write on a laptop, but I connect it to a monitor and keyboard because it is more comfortable for me. I tried taking my laptop to a coffee shop, or the library, or even down to my dining room table just for a different view outside the window and I have become so used to using my keyboard, I prefer writing in my office now.
My current work in progress is going well. I aim for writing a scene a day. Since I am in the initial stages of this project, I am not sure yet how long this will take. This week I am just giving myself the pleasure of writing as frequently as possible so that I can calculate how many words a week I can produce. I plan to take that information and make a more solid goal. I will be using a new craft book I bought this week. It is Cheryl St. John’s ‘Write Smart Write Happy’ through Writer’s Digest. Cheryl is a multi-published author friend from the Omaha area. We have been friends since the ‘90’s. She even used my name in one of her books. It was a historical romance and there was a married couple, the woman was Virginia and her husband’s name was Gruver. Since I am a fan of hers, I emailed her when I noticed it. She says she does that often. She will also be speaking at my local RWA chapter meeting in March.
But getting back to her book, the beginning of the book deals with goal setting and I have found it very interesting. It takes it a little deeper than just a word or page count, it helps you break it down to get a better idea of how long your project will take. I will blog more about that and the other craft book I am using this year in a future post.
Where is your magic spot to write? Do you like to write in public or prefer ‘a room of your own’?
Here is my office on a good day. Feel free to comment. Would love to hear more about your writing process.
Until next time,
Virginia
All The Books 