OO is for Out (of) Office
Has there ever been such a long journey through the alphabet? I began this sporadic challenge in 2021 when I wrote: AA is for Alliterative Articles.
It was never meant to be a race, more like a meander through the mind of a Later Writer, using alphabetical topic titles to practise my writing.
I’m keeping this one short, now we’re over halfway through, as it’s high time to speed up, write posts more often.
A permanent state of this Later Writer’s life is writing from home, at home, in the home, anywhere I care to access a pen, paper or my laptop. But I do have an office where I love to be.
Office ‘Politics’ for Homeworkers
Do they exist? I’ve been thinking about summer, vacations, non-writing time…all strange concepts when you write at home, for pleasure, in your retirement. When a ‘normal’ worker goes on a break, they place an Out of Office notification on their email account, maybe even a physical notice on their office door.
Homeworkers on the other hand may be taking a holiday at home – without leaving their residence. How do we achieve separation from our writing craft?
Here are some ideas:
- perversely, you don’t have to stop writing, just switch location from office to lounge to sitting in bed, or go to a cafe
- stop writing – exercise the body, cook new recipes, knit that winter scarf, give the garden weeds the boot
- switch genre – leave alone fiction to write poetry, or leave poetry to try a short story
- socialise in the real world – see a new place on a day trip, spend time with the family, switch off social media
Writing Brain Food:
While not working, you can be leisurely increasing your skills.
- READ, READ, READ – call it Going on a Word Diet, one that increases rather than reduces your vocabulary and attunes your mind to narrative storytelling techniques effortlessly – a free study course that uses the materials already on your bookshelves
- TALK, TALK, TALK – call it Practising Dialogue, listening to the way we communicate, noticing accents, dialects, new vocabulary
- WATCH, WATCH, WATCH – call it Dating Your Creativity, using film & TV, binge-watching both selectively and randomly – you won’t know what you like until you see it
- LISTEN, LISTEN, LISTEN – call it Honouring Your Heart, using the rhythm of music & lyrics, and the pattern of podcast recordings
- CREATE, CREATE, CREATE – change your method, use the other side of your brain – carve wood, paint, knit, sew, bake, walk the hills with your camera
Try thinking through the way you use your home, time, body, brain when you are holidaying at home, out of office.
More writing practice at ABC Alliterative Title Challenge.
