by Rachel Smith
02 August 2013
I’m writing this to you from a beautiful home I’m house-sitting in, with my friends’ pet parrot Coco by my side. She’s chewing sunflower seeds and occasionally, wolf-whistling me or laughing hysterically at nothing in particular. (We may have to have a little chat about professionalism before I do any interviews.)
It’s the first time I’ve decamped from my office to a temporary one – and one in which I’ll have no choice but to meet deadlines. I won’t lie to you; it’s a struggle. I’m nothing like my friend John, who was telling me just the other day about his cure for ‘home office claustrophia’. “I had a feature due but just couldn’t get it done,” he said, “so I packed up my laptop and my notes and went to the library.” The result? He finished and filed the troublesome piece within the hour.
For John, a change of scenery can equal better or more efficient work. For me, an unfamiliar environment – especially one far from the jampacked bookshelves, blue-tacked postcards and general organised chaos of my regular home office – can be a one-way ticket to writer’s block.
Of course, there have been heaps of times I’ve had no choice but to file copy from a cafe, park bench, bar – especially when I was doing movie reviews and the deadlines were ridiculous. But I still love to give the majority of my writing a last spit and polish from my trusty desktop.
So, I’m going to try an experiment for the next week and see if I can let my new environment – and my lovely new deskmate – stoke my creativity and productivity. Hey, I already got one blog post done…
What’s your process? Do you, like me, need to be in your office to produce your best work? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
If you want any indication of how much the portable office is in effect these days, there are a number of cafes in the CBD which specialises in playing office to those who work from their laptops. I am currently writing this at Sydney Airport – and no, I am not waiting for a flight. After a morning of meetings here, I am enjoying the atmosphere and finishing off a 1000 word feature – about airline terminals!
Now that’s what I call immersing yourself in the subject matter 🙂
There is a lot to be said for moving to a new place (Magnetic Island sounds good, who’s with me??)
When I first started back to a full-time gig after years of freelancing (which always left room for moving about with distractions like the washing, the fridge, walking the dog and Oprah ) I needed to go to coffee shops to get back my literary mojo or at least go for a regular time-out walk to clear the head. We creative types need to let things marinate a bit but other times that desk holiday just has to be forfeited for bashing it all for a deadline…
Magnetic Island. Yes please.
How terrifying! I can’t write unless everything is just. so. Need my routine and my recognisable desk – when I’m editing stories from contributors, word documents must be in the same font every time before I can even begin (Helvetica, point size 12, thanks for asking)!
On the other hand, your new scenic digs sound like just the ticket to start dreaming and getting imaginative… And that is one gorgeous parrot.
L
That is hilarious, but the sad thing is, I totally get it. Especially the font thing. Ah fonts, that’s a whole other blog post.
Coco is a beautiful parrot but she has a very strong personality and we are having some first-day teething problems (read, she bit me earlier and I have put her in her cage for a time-out).
The house is fantastic though, and funnily enough I am getting quite a bit done!
I’m with you, I definitely do my best work in my home office. Inhouse freelance stints can be hard for that very reason because I’m no longer used to all the normal noises of a typical office.
I hear you… I too love / need solitude to write.
I found I HAD to leave my home office (actually just a desk in my bedroom) to write my 2nd fiction novel. The first fell happily out of my head in solitude, in familiar surroundings, but faced with completing another 70,000 + words, I fled to anywhere else. For a few months I wrote in libraries, quiet rooms in pubs and at cafes. It was fantastic for freeing up a new story in a new place with a buzz around me and something I think I’ll return to for book 3!
I love the idea in theory, and maybe when I get my birthday laptop I will be doing the same!!
I must say though, after battling my friend’s Mac all day (and a frustrating case of disappearing Safari windows) I am having withdrawal pangs for my PC.
My laptop has released me from working in a set spot. I follow the morning sun around, but there’s always some time in the day I am actually sitting at my desk in my dedicated home office. The freedom is exhilarating, though.
I’m getting a laptop very soon Carol and I love the idea of following the morning sun around my house too. I may be broken of my desktop habit yet…
I love Coco!
She is a cutie! I’ve never known a parrot to join in when other people are laughing – it’s too funny.