It Can Be Anywhere

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I was thinking about what to write this week and diversity popped into my head.  Do you actually have to be at an office or a standard workplace to have diversity?  I really don’t think so and here’s why I think that.

 

 

I’m a freelance writer who works from home in her office with a lovely view of the garden and bird feeders.  I find that I work best in the mornings to compose what I’m going to write.  I can push it until early afternoon if necessary but forget writing at night.  I can revise, edit and even do some rearranging but forget writing.  It isn’t going to happen, my brain goes dead and my muse goes to sleep.

 

Now my husband is a freelance writer who also works from home.  He tends to write at night, in the living room while sitting in his chair with the computer hooked up to the TV.  He says he can see it better that way and he’s more comfortable.  He has difficulty writing in the morning, he can edit and revise but forget the actual writing part.

 

So where does the diversity come in?  Well, it’s a little difficult to watch TV with a computer hooked up to it that has his work on.  If we want to watch TV together, we plan what we’re going to watch and when.  If he wants to go out to breakfast or wants me to go with him while he runs errands, then he has to wait until I’m finished writing or if I decide to take a break.  We both write blogs for the same employer so we have to discuss what we’re going to write so we don’t write about the same topic.  If we both do get an idea for the same topic then we have to decide who’s going to write it first.

 

Because our work schedules are so different, we tend to get a bit testy when interrupted by the more mundane things in life such as who’s going to feed the dogs and gee, the cat boxes need done.  We try to figure out who’s going to do what when and how that affects the other person’s creativity.  When Jeff is in the middle of a flash of inspiration and I pop into the living room with a question and interrupt him, it’s not always pleasant.  Likewise when he sticks his head in my office door to ask if I need something from the store and I snap at him, he backs away pretty quickly.

 

We have learned to be more aware of the other person’s needs and expectations.  If the other person is deep in thought we don’t exactly tiptoe around but we try to make sure that if there is an interruption, it’s important.  If I notice that my husband is in a typing frenzy and muttering to himself, then my doing the cat boxes an extra time isn’t any big deal.  He may throw in a load of laundry instead of asking if I washed his favorite outfit if he sees me concentrating and frowning.  I guess the word is compromise.  If you compromise with your co-worker, whether at home work place or out of the house, you can both finish what work needs to be done.

 

Do you work with your spouse?  How do you handle diversity?

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