My daughter’s spring break just ended and while the house is quiet – something I thoroughly enjoy as a paranormal romance writer – I miss her already. Her first year of college has flown by and as a parent, I’m thrilled by the way she is thriving in both her classes and extra curricular activities.
When she’s home I just want to soak up every available minute! Which sounds smothering – and it is, for both of us. We get along marvelously (I’m so very blessed) but at the same time we both have introverted tendencies and we need our space. Some days when she visits we struggle to find the right balance of chatter, shopping, writing, shopping, reading, movies, and more shopping – I mean chatter.
Finding the right balance between work and family is tricky for everyone, but I think it becomes especially challenging for those of us who work at home.
I’d love to say I’m a coffee shop writer, but I’m not. I’m an at home, any hour, anywhere, beside any cat or greyhound kind of writer. Which means when the family is home, even though I have dedicated office space, they are effectively in my office. And the greyhounds are so used to coming to me when they need something they often forget to ‘ask’ other family members to open the back door or refill the water bowl.
I try to be gracious, but my family can assure you (lovingly, of course) that I get crabby when I don’t get enough words on the page in any given day. Which means during school breaks and weekends I reorganize my schedule in an attempt to feed my writing muse and be both attentive to my work in progress and involved with my family.
Working at home is kind of like excercise: you know what needs to be done, you just have to carve out the time and space during your most productive hours. Some days it’s an epic fail, so you adjust and start again the next day.
This past week, my daughter (who has an excellent eye for decor) helped me move into my new desk space. Sort of family meets work event since shopping and chatter (and much laughter) were involved. When she returned to her college dorm, she reorganized her own study areas and she kept me on speaker phone so we could chatter while she moved things around.
Whether it’s a ‘normal’ quiet day, (like today), or a day full of distractions (like today- lol), I’ve learned finding a healthy balance while I’m writing my paranormal romance novels means being flexible about my expectations and still maintaining my self discipline.
Live the adventure!
Great insights Regan – since being laid off in January I’ve “worked” from home. The dogs and boyfriend are supportive but I’ve struggled at times to find the privacy to concentrate on revising the resume or even the privacy to do a phone interview (with protective doggies alerting me about passing squirrels).
It is a balancing act and appreciate you blogging on how you handle!
I’m glad you liked the post, Tracy! It is a tough deal. One of our greyhounds has decided if I’m talking on the phone, he needs to be talking too. Which can be frustrating to say the least. 😉 Here’s hoping you are employed again soon in a job you love!
Like Tracy, I just lost my day job and am back to working from home. The dogs, cat and I are still trying to find balance. Of course, we’re also still trying to find the coffee table under the To Do pile from when I had the day job.
Finding the balance between work and play can be hard and a dedicated work space other than the couch is clearly a necessity for me. Oddly enough, just moving to a different seat in the room (as opposed to where i sit to watch TV) is making a difference.
But since you’ve just created a new workspace, and I’m trying to figure out what to do about one… pictures, please?