First Day of Freedom...

And what am I doing?

Taking my dear old Mum to the local Hub for soup and a roll.

Now, this is lovely I hear you say. However, there is danger lurking. Well, not in the Hub itself, generally the more mature people that visit the Hub aren’t in any way dangerous, but, danger in that I am setting a precedence - and on my very first day of self-employment!

As a “writer” who is now working from home, I wonder how this will work. I suspect I will be considered to be “doing nothing” therefore free for people to pop in and out when they take the fancy. My Mum in particular I refer to here. Bless her, it’s been a tough year for her health wise, and Dad died in May – the stuffing has been knocked out of her, and she craves company.

See my point now, in that danger is merely around the corner? If I am not careful, my writing will not be seen as a job, and I will be expected to run errands, go for coffee, go out to town – all those little things that eat up your time. Don’t get me wrong, doing these things is obviously important, just not all the time. And whilst I’m being taken away from writing, how am I ever going to be taken seriously as a writer?

My plan is to set out, over my soup and roll with Mum, exactly what I intend my working hours to be. Also I need to get across, nicely but firmly, that whilst I am “working” I do not need any interruptions, unless it’s an emergency (again this will have to be clearly defined – as pressing the wrong button on the TV and losing the picture is NOT an emergency, whatever spin you put on it).

I was toying with the idea of creating a timetable of my planned writing time for each week and handing it out to family and friends so they know exactly when I am working. What do you think? 

Has anyone got any other hints and tips of how to set boundaries and protect those precious writing hours? Your input would be invaluable!