Archive for April, 2009
Turning Japanese
Apr 21st
I’m not much of a shopper, but I do like to check out shops I don’t see locally, and going to London provides ample opportunity to do that. And even as a minimal shopper it’s wonderful to find a shop where you love the ethos and the design and would happily buy just about anything they stock. A chain I’ve always enjoyed mooching about in is Muji, the Japanese company that sells well-designed, functional products with no branding and – hurray! – at reasonable prices.
I’ve always loved the clever things they come up with that you’d never think of until you find them in a Muji shop. They have all kinds of bottles, tubes and pots to decant toiletries into for holidays, ingenious, irresistible stationery and covetable kitchenware of oriental simplicity. This time there were some fabulous steel desks and shelves perfect for homeworking, well-designed laptop bags and the usual extensive range of storage drawers, boxes and trolleys.
They do clothes too and I found another stripey T shirt to add to my collection, and made a mental note to come back on my next trip to the city. If you can’t visit in person, you can check out www.muji.co.uk for yourself.
Running on Empty
Apr 20th
I mentioned recently that one of the things I like best about working from home is being able to take time off when I feel like it. And one of the worst?
One of the worst traps to fall into, and I still do it after all this time, is to keep expecting to produce great results when actually you’ve exhausted your reserves and all you need is a total break from work, or home, or preferably both. I’ve just done it again in fact, even ignoring the sneezing, nose-blowing evidence of a bad cold for two weeks and wondering why I had no enthusiasm for updating the site and promoting the book.
Fortunately we had already booked a few days away in London, but it wasn’t until I got away that I realised how desperately I needed a change of scene. Homeworkers tend to be very hard on themselves, but it’s much better to give yourself a break, in both senses of the term.
The book is launched
Apr 8th
The book launch on Saturday went brilliantly well, especially the mini scones with jam and cream. There are a few brownies and some cake left, but nothing too disastrous for a homeworker who can’t forget what’s lurking in the cake tins. It was lovely to see friends from different phases of my life, especially as they all seemed to enjoy meeting one another and to find plenty to talk about.
Here I am talking to Bill Greenwell, one of my tutors on the MA Prof Writing course and one of the best teachers I’ve ever met. He has mentioned me on his blog – see the entry for April 7 on http://billgreenwell.wordpress.com – which is a great destination for homeworkers like me who have to ease themselves gently into the day and find that good writing on the web is an excellent way to achieve this. Bill has a wonderful way with words (maybe something to do with the fact he’s a poet!) and knows how to tell a good story. I particularly recommend you click on Home at the top of the page and then Previous Entries (bottom of the next) to read Other People’s Stories and The Radiographer’s Story if you want to start your day with a laugh.
The day after the launch I came down with a shocking cold, which is why it’s taken me so long to write a post about the big day. Even when you’re working from home, away from the tensions of the traditional workplace, it can happen that as soon as you relax after a period of stress or working hard, you immediately fall ill. So I’ve had a few days of taking it easy, but now it’s back to the keyboard.
Home Baking
Apr 3rd
Homeworking for me for the last week has included regular baking sessions in preparation for my book launch tomorrow. I used to enjoy baking, but haven’t made a cake for years, mainly because having one in the house would be far too much temptation for a sweet-toothed homeworker like me. So I’m out of practice and my right arm is aching from holding my old electric hand mixer upright in the bowl, but I have the satisfaction that comes from a freezer full of brownies and coffee cake.
As I’ve moved away from Cornwall, a lot of people who helped me with the book in many ways – my tutors and colleagues on the MA Prof Writing course at Falmouth and homeworkers who told me their stories – won’t be able to make it, so I’d like to acknowledge their part in the process. I’ll raise a brownie to you all!
