Yes, I’m Home and Yes, I’m Working

It’s been a number of years now since I’ve been working from my home office. I first began doing so when I decided to kick up my writing from being just a hobby to making it a commitment with a goal for publication. Then, some years later, the company where I was employed asked that I begin working from home when they had to shuffle some staff due to losing office space -- but thankfully no lives -- at the World Trade Center on 9/11. Four years after that tragic event, my position was eliminated. However, I was determined to maintain my lifestyle of working from home, even though it meant relying solely on myself for an income.

Often, those who discover that I work from home remark that they are not disciplined enough to do so. “I’d be watching Oprah everyday!” is quite often the response. However, discipline for me is not an issue; unfortunately, I cannot say the same for those who once thought my being home meant the front door was always opened.

Originally, once my children were in school all day, I used the time to go back to college, as well as work on my novel. On one level, I knew how difficult it would be to find a publisher, but I didn’t know how difficult it would be to inform unexpected guests that I didn’t have time to sit over a cup of coffee and shoot the breeze, which was something I’d been able to do when my children were still in diapers.

“You’re doing what?” was the invariable question.

When I said I was working on a novel, the responses were usually mild amusement, along with the inability to accept that I wouldn’t go out shopping or chat on the phone. After all, since my children were in school, I suddenly had free time to do anything! But sitting at a desk and writing a novel that was most certainly nothing more than a silly dream? No one understood that I needed to use that free time to hole up in my room to create and complete a world within narrative dimensions. My polite refusals soon had to become hasty rejections and, unintentionally with a dash of guilt, I hurt the feelings of some friends and family. But that was then and I now have the proof of my labor—awards and all.

Nowadays, though, I’m thankful that I did set those boundaries; otherwise, quite likely, I would not be able to pull off making it as a fulltime freelancer, since I’d be politely entertaining instead of bringing in an income.