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Like many others, we\u2019ve recently begun the transition from office work to working from home. It\u2019s a strange transition to make, and we need some help. We\u2019ve interviewed a collection of our favourite authors to get their best tips, tricks and truths about working from home.<\/p>\n
Using war diaries, letters and Churchill Fellowship research from along the race route, Lainie’s\u00a0Long Flight Home<\/em><\/a>\u00a0recreates one of the most important\u00a0\u2013 and largely forgotten\u00a0\u2013 chapters in world aviation history.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Freelance writing is my full-time job (well, normally it is, when everything hasn\u2019t dried up because of COVID-19). Thursday has been my Sunday Mail<\/em> column writing day for the past 13 years, but apart from that no two days are ever the same. More below!<\/p>\n When I was writing Long Flight Home<\/em>, I started every work day at 5am to give myself 2.5 I\u2019ve worked from home for 12 years now, and my husband Max (currently an out-of-work travel writer due to COVID-19) has worked from home for 20 years, so we\u2019re pretty used to getting the work done when it needs to be done. For me, fear of failure is a major driver.<\/p>\n I read a lot of articles and motivational pieces on \u201chow to write a book\u201d while I was researching Long Flight Home, <\/em>and one of the best pieces of advice was to set yourself a small task each day, so you don\u2019t feel swamped by the enormity of the entire writing project. For example, instead of procrastinating by doing the washing or some other \u201cessential\u201d household job that seems so much easier than sitting down at the computer, set yourself a goal of writing 250 words before doing the washing. More often than not, you race past 250 words and have many more words on the page before even realise it.<\/p>\n Max and I always have lunch together, and sit outside in the sun whenever possible, away from our computers. We thought we\u2019d fight like cats and dogs when I started working from home, but we rarely argue (about writing stuff anyway!) He\u2019s kind, funny and a brilliant writer, so I\u2019m very lucky to have him as a writing buddy and mentor.<\/p>\n I have a yellow water bottle that I bought at the Australian Open with my son Harry, and make sure that\u2019s always full. I always have spearmint chewing gum on hand too \u2013 I find it\u2019s great for concentration or when I\u2019m feeling a bit drowsy after lunch. Black coffee in the morning. Peppermint tea in the afternoon. I have a little, round shiny pine cone that I rub for inspiration \u2013 for some reason it reminds me of my Dad (who died 11 years ago) and it makes me happy and uplifted.<\/p>\n In theory I know it\u2019s important to get dressed and maintain personal hygiene, but I reckon 70 per cent of Long Flight Home<\/em> was written in my dressing gown. Some days the boys would come home from school and I\u2019d still be in it. I know that\u2019s bad, but it\u2019s true. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n Having said all that, though, my advice to others is to not beat yourself up if you\u2019re having a crap day.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Sometimes, for your own mental health, you just need to turn off the computer and spend the day in the garden, or going for a walk to clear the cobwebs. Some days I\u2019ll be trying to craft a column for the Sunday Mail<\/em> and my head is like cotton wool \u2013 a half-hour walk with the dog to collect my thoughts can save hours of blankly staring at the computer screen.<\/p>\n My desk is a lovely second-hand wooden table in a room just off the kitchen. I have lots of family photos on the opposite wall and a big window looking out to the back garden. The room is also a bit of a thoroughfare through the house, which I love because I\u2019m always in on any action. My desk is often a bit of a mess but I wouldn\u2019t change a thing.<\/p>\n At the moment I\u2019m working on my Sunday Mail<\/em> column and a couple of websites. I\u2019m trying to finish a website<\/a>\u00a0focusing on the South Australian Smith brothers and their pioneering flight from England to Australian in 1919 (also the topic of Long Flight Home<\/em>). It\u2019s hosted by the History Trust of South Australia and I was meant to finish it last year, but I didn\u2019t get to write all the articles I had in mind because 2019 was the actual centenary and pretty hectic with activities and events. The other website<\/a> is a support site for mining and fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) families, which I created with my friend Alicia Ranford 10 years ago. The past few years, following my Churchill Fellowship on the Smith brothers\u2019 flight in 2017, have been really busy so it\u2019s good to have some time to get back into it.<\/p>\n I had lots of Long Flight Home<\/em> speaking events cancelled when COVID-19 hit, so I\u2019m looking to getting back into that again, too.<\/p>\n My ultimate aim is to clear the decks of my to-do list, particularly with the epic flight centenary, to free up some brain space for inspiration for another book. I\u2019d really love to find a topic that inspires me as much as Adelaide\u2019s historic Vickers Vimy aircraft and that incredible first flight across the world (achieved by South Australians no less!)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Welcome to the week, and to a new blog series here at Wakefield Press! Introducing\u00a0How to Work From Home: Authors talk about how they stay productive. Like many others, we\u2019ve recently begun the transition from office work to working from … Continue reading ![\"Lainie](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wakefieldpress.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Anderson_Lainie.jpg?resize=300%2C300&ssl=1\")
<\/a>Next in the series is Lainie Anderson. Lainie has been a weekly columnist with Adelaide’s\u00a0Sunday Mail<\/em>\u00a0since 2007, and previously worked at the\u00a0Herald Sun<\/em>\u00a0in Melbourne and\u00a0The Times<\/em>\u00a0in London. In 2017 she travelled to nine countries on a Churchill Fellowship to gauge the significance of the pioneering 1919 flight from England to Australia and the Vickers Vimy aircraft now housed at Adelaide Airport. Lainie was South Australia’s Epic Flight Centenary 2019 program ambassador.<\/p>\nIs writing your full-time job, or do you have another job to keep you busy? If you have more than one job, what\u2019s the split between that job and writing?<\/h1>\n
How do you usually structure a writing day?<\/h1>\n
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<\/a>solid hours of writing before the boys woke up for school. I find my brain is much sharper first thing than later in the day. I did that every day Mon\u2013Fri for 13 months and really loved it. Some days (because of my Sunday Mail<\/em> column, other freelance writing work or meetings) that was the only time I could commit to the book, so it was really important for continuity and my confidence as a first-time writer to just get out of bed and get words on the page. On days when I could devote myself to the book, I\u2019d start at 5 am and generally finish by about 4 pm to answer emails or walk the dog, with a half-hour break for lunch. Whenever I\u2019m writing my column (and when I was writing Long Flight Home<\/em>) I avoid my phone, emails and social media. They are massive time wasters and really bad for concentration.<\/p>\nHow do you keep yourself on task when you\u2019re working from home?<\/h1>\n
How do you take a break properly?<\/h1>\n
Do you have any favourite\u00a0treats or\u00a0things to have nearby to help you work?<\/h1>\n
What are your thoughts on getting dressed for work when your office is at home?<\/h1>\n
What are your top tips for working from home? Alternatively, what has working from home taught you?<\/h1>\n
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<\/a>When I was just starting Long Flight Home<\/em> I read a brilliant motivational Tweet that went along the lines of: \u201cYou can fix a bad page of words. You can\u2019t fix a blank page of words.\u201d I love that mantra \u2013 especially for historic fiction writing when you need to get all the facts clear in your head before you can write creatively around them. It reinforced the need to just get words\/thoughts down and fix them later. I never actually had writer\u2019s block the whole time I was writing Long Flight Home<\/em>, and I have that motivational Tweet to thank.<\/p>\n\n
What does your workspace look like, and where is it?\u00a0 Would you change anything about it?<\/h1>\n
What are you working on at the moment?<\/h1>\n
Keep up to date with\u00a0Lainie by following her on her (brand new)\u00a0website<\/a>\u00a0and on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>.\u00a0Read more about\u00a0Long Flight Home\u00a0<\/em>over on our\u00a0website<\/a>.<\/h1>\n