Life at Home

by Joanne Rock

Greetings from the housebound to the housebound! I hope this week finds you healthy and safe while we adjust to a new normal. For my part, I'm mostly adapting to how to bring groceries safely into my house and trying to figure out where the next roll of toilet paper will come from. But the work from home isolation is something I'm long accustomed to as a writer.

In the years that I was first disciplining myself to write books, the adjustment to so much alone time was a big one. Then, just when I got a rhythm going, my significant other started working from home too, and there was a whole new learning curve of being productive with someone else in the house. I see a lot of friends online struggling with both of these-- being productive while isolated, and being productive while isolated with someone else.

My best advice for the former is to pay attention to your high productivity times. If you're no longer tied to 9-5, it can be a surprise to discover you are most effective at your job from 7pm to 11pm. But if that's what works for you, go with it! Don't ignore your natural ebbs and flows of good work energy. My other advice is to mix up your work tasks so you're not stuck doing one kind of work all day long. Varying your tasks and putting time limits on them can help you accomplish more.

As for being productive while there are others in the house with you? I liked being really mobile with a laptop so I could seek out quiet places in the house wherever they happened to be. Kids take over your office? Go find an empty bedroom to work in. Spouse decide to chat while you need to focus? Tomorrow, try working with headphones on. Your family isn't trying to disrupt you. They just lack the visual cues to remind them you're working.

A good deal! https://books2read.com/TheRebel

But sometimes the biggest stumbling block to being  productive at home is YOU. Before you dismiss it, consider this-- is there any chance you're self-sabotaging without realizing it? You like to be the go-to family chef so you jump up to prep food four times a day for various people? Or maybe you're the only one who knows how to accomplish certain things at home, so those around you are used to relying on you for help with those things. Stop this. Teach each kid a task you used to be responsible for and let them manage it. Relinquish some house control for the sake of your work life.

For your downtime, of course, I hope you're taking advantage of the oodles of deals on books right now. I know I've downloaded tons of free and .99 cent books. My friend author Eva Moore is compiling a nice list on Facebook, but I know there are lots more lists out there. My first-in-series book, The Rebel is just .99 through the weekend, so please go grab it, and stay safe!