On the State of Your Writing Space

I’m often asked how I can work at home and be productive. Many tell me they would never get any work done that way and need to be in an office environment with colleagues so they’re not lured away from work by other things, like shopping online or catching up on Facebook, Twitter, etc. But I get at least twice as much work done at home as I ever did in an office. I’ll tell you why.

My home office is relatively neat and organized for how I work best, with a desk calendar (yes, it’s paper), a file rack for things I often need at hand or that need to be taken care of within the work week, and a “sticky note” on my computer desktop that outlines my main goals for my clients for the week, including any deadlines, meetings, etc. I work at the time of day when I’m most motivated (usually in the mornings, but also at other times of the day when inspiration strikes), when my family is otherwise occupied (at the beach, playing golf, or doing their own projects), and with only the sounds of the birds and the breeze through my windows (no TV, radio, or iTunes). I’m seldom interrupted at home, which is one of the things that irritated me most when I worked in an office and can irritate me still when it happens here.

Dinner plate hibiscus
Photograph by Gail M. Pfeifer, RN, MA

Notwithstanding a recent New York Times op-ed piece touting the virtues of a messy office space (by Kathleen D. Vohs titled, “It’s not ‘mess.’ It’s creativity”) I work best in an orderly environment, and, dare I say, I am more creative in it. In fact, one year, although I was the executive editor of two medical journals, I shared an office with a freelancer who worked there when I worked at home. (I insisted that, when I went back to fulltime work, all job offers would enable me to work at home at least two days a week and found little, if any resistance.) Initially, I would return to that shared space finding a ravaged mess, with the desktop full of open journals, reference texts, and loose papers, and still open file drawers. One day I needed to be in the office the same day as that freelancer, who I politely asked to start leaving my office the way she found it. In response, she called me something with the adjective “anal” in it. I paused. Then, looking around the office at the state it was in, I said, “Where’s the virtue in this?” She was at a loss for words.

And when I am in a messy office, it’s me who is at a loss for words. My writing dries up, my thoughts don’t cohere, I can’t lay hands on what I need when I need it, and I produce less in a given timeframe. I’m not saying that everyone will find that to be true or that it’s best for everyone, including my office mate. But it is important for you to designate a workspace that amplifies your ability to write and produce good work. Don’t be cowed into working in a messy space or a neat space, an office environment or a home one; find what’s best for you and make it happen.