Working From Home

Today is the first of November, and for writers everywhere November means Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month), but don’t worry as this post isn’t actually about Nanowrimo. To be honest I’ve never taken part in it, though I do think that writing a first draft as fast as possible is a great idea. The main reason I’ve not yet taken part is that I’ve never been in the right writing place – I’ve either been finishing a first draft, editing, or last year getting to grips with KDP, Smashwords and CreateSpace.  Yes, I agree, pathetic excuses, but I’m just not a multi-tasker when it comes to major writing or work projects.

I’m fortunate in being able to work from home most of the time, with only occasional projects requiring me to work from a customer’s office, and I was interested when I saw this article earlier today.

In my last fulltime job prior to working for myself, I was asked to put together a business case allowing staff to work remotely depending on their job role. In writing the business case I did quite a lot of research, and as part of that I met with staff and managers from several companies that had already implemented flexible working conditions.

The conclusion I came to was pretty much the same as shown in the link and the Stanford Business report mentioned in the article. 

Working from home isn’t possible for all jobs and won’t suit everyone, but it is a great option for some people.

A few years ago I spent a couple of days in another city working with some trainers on a project. We hadn’t met before, and in getting to know each other I mentioned that I usually worked from home. At first they all said how lucky I was and they’d love to do that.  Then after a moment one of them said. ‘Actually I don’t think I would like to work from home. I’d really miss meeting up with everyone in the office.’  Another then said they'd find it hard to get their work completed because of household distractions.

These are valid reasons for people preferring to work in the office environment.  We are all different and need different surroundings and motivation.

Personally I love working from home, but then I’m always amazed at the number of writers who seem to enjoy (and thrive) writing in cafes.  It wouldn’t work for me.  I was away a few weekends ago, and had a lovely breakfast in a very busy and noisy café. It was great for people watching, but writing! 

Wouldn’t it be boring if we were all the same?