Fellow blogger Jamie Harrop recently wrote about the downsides of working from home (to be fair, he wrote about how to avoid these downside, too). When I told people I had quit my job to write full time, the #1 concern was "what'll happen to your social life? Won't you miss going to the office?"
Now, admittedly, I am barely into week 2 of working from home, but so far it has been fantastic. Here's why...
- Since I'm focusing on writing full time, I no longer have to rush home from the office to finish a project or send out a query. I skipped a lot of happy hours and social events when I was working full time because I knew that editors wouldn't work with me again if I missed a deadline or turned in crappy copy. Sure, I'm still spending a lot of evenings at the computer; however, being more in control of my time has allowed me to put in more face time with friends instead of bosses.
- I'm more relaxed now. My boyfriend will be the first to tell you I'm a much better dinner companion than I was before. Instead of ranting about what So-and-So said or what they did to create hours of extra work for me, I can make small talk like a normal person. Yes, now there's the concern that the websites I write for could go bust or that an editor will make a ridiculous request at 5:10 on a Friday, but at least I'm doing what I love.
- A lot of people are concerned about my social life, so I'm making a concerted effort to get out and see people. This gives me an excuse to go grocery shopping in the middle of day or walk to the library to research a magazine I'd like to pitch. I'm even meeting my former coworkers for lunch on Thursday. I still tend to hit the gym during peak hours (hey, a girl's gotta get some work done), but it's nice to know I can go whenever the mood strikes.