Ciao! 2020 has been quite the year and many people have been forced to work at home thanks to the covid 19. This is a special topic covering my personal opinions about writing from home and writing from a rented office.
Some of you might already know that my brother and I used to rent a small office space near home that has 24-hour access with a stable internet connection, barely any furniture and air-conditioning system that we can use as we please. However, due to the ban on travelling by the government for a few months, we'd been forced to remain home.
Update: We've now cancelled the lease because the rental was getting too heavy on our almost empty wallets and bank accounts.
I haven't been rotting at home, I've been trying to write. However, I can tell you that writing at home is probably the worst thing I've ever tried to do - especially during the day.
Every writer has an ideal environment for writing. Every individual's creative space is different and no two writers are alike. It takes time to figure out what kind of conditions you work best under.
For me, my perfect formula for creativity is 23.5-degree celsius, no sunlight, a chair, desk and keyboard arranged to my height because the standard setup doesn't do it for me and kid customs are too humiliating, coffee of a certain kind and good music surrounded by only the humming of my computer. There's more than one reason why my fandom is called the Tiny-army but I won't elaborate.
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Home is certainly not the place with the best conditions and writing has been hell. Firstly, air-conditioning isn't allowed during the day because dad doesn't like it. It's only allowed after 8 pm. Secondly, the internet connection isn't stable for some reason. There are three people at home all vying for the internet's attention and we don't subscribe to the highest-tier plan. It's understandable but frustrating when my online files don't save and the internet fails me. Thirdly, it's noisy thanks to the neighbours and the kids who attend school near my place. To add insult to the injury, my room faces the sun 90% of the time in the day.
So unless you have a room dedicated to creating that perfect creative space for you, I don't think writing from home is good at all. The creativity requires space to flow and with people peering over my shoulder every five minutes, complaining that I don't do laundry and bothering me to eat when I'm busy, I really don't like the idea of writing from home a lot.
Thanks to this, I had to adjust my body clock to work at night when I can get most of these criteria to fit. Don't get me wrong, I'm not actually a night owl but circumstances have forced me to evolve. Now, I start writing at 8 pm and end somewhere between 1 am to 3 am. I don't sleep a lot because I have chronic insomnia but this habit isn't really productive. It's a vicious cycle and I don't know how I'm going to manage to live with normal society again.
Back when I had the office, I was usually home by 11 pm after a long day and asleep by midnight if insomnia doesn't make itself present. I really miss that small rented office unit but I can't afford the rent. I simply don't earn enough to pay it and writing doesn't pay me enough to cover my phone bills, much less the rental for an office.
In a nutshell, I don't think it's the question about renting an office unit or writing from home that works best. It's actually the environment that you can feel free to be comfortable enough for the words to flow. Creating that environment is going to make a huge difference and if possible, I would suggest separating your working area from your sleeping area.
I can't speak for other writers but I often find inspiration for new things at the least convenient times. I like finding my inspiration in the bathroom during my showers or just before I fall asleep. It isn't a good thing and I learned to always keep a phone or a notepad around just in case inspiration strikes. If all else fails, I have a pen in every bag for the occasion and my forearm becomes free real estate for ideas that need to get written down for documenting when I get home.
Feel free to let me know what kind of creative spaces you work best in on any of my social media and don't forget to leave me a tip on my Patreon if you enjoyed reading my blogs so far <3
That's it for now, take care and I'll see you next week with a new post!
