How to Work from Home: Poppy Nwosu's tips
Welcome to the week, and to a new blog series here at Wakefield Press! Introducing How to Work From Home: Authors talk about how they stay productive.
Like many others, we’ve recently begun the transition from office work to working from home. It’s a strange transition to make, and we need some help. We’ve interviewed a collection of our favourite authors to get their best tips, tricks and truths about working from home.
Next in the series is Poppy Nwosu, an Australian YA author. Her debut novel, Making Friends with Alice Dyson, was shortlisted for the 2018 Adelaide Festival Unpublished Manuscript Award, and for the 2019 Readings Young Adult Book Prize. It will be published by Walker US in 2020. Poppy's latest novel, Taking Down Evelyn Tait, is a story about family, friends and embracing who you are. Even if that person is kind of weird.
Is writing your full-time job, or do you have another job to keep you busy? If you have more than one job, what’s the split between that job and writing?
Writing is not my full-time job, but I am lucky enough to still work around books in my day
job, being a part-time worker at Wakefield Press! I’ve only started here at Wakefield recently, and work three days per week. This means I have two full days per week set aside for writing (and usually I also write in the morning before work and a little on the weekend too.)
In my previous job I used to work full time, so it’s been lovely to transition to a day job that is only three days and find more time for my creative writing. This improved work / life balance has meant for the first time in a long time, I now enjoy at least one full day off per week!
How do you usually structure a writing day?
On my writing days, I get up early at 5am and usually am sitting at my desk ready to work with a coffee by 5.30am. I’m not really a morning person, but the habit has spilled over from when I was working a day job full-time, and those early mornings were the only opportunity I had during the week to make any progress on my creative writing. These days, even though I have more time, I still like to keep to that early morning habit.
I usually work until around 10 or 11am and then take a break for more food and another coffee. Usually a shower. And if I’m not caught in the middle of something, then I’ll take some time for a break. This could be to read a book or go for a walk (or even watch a sneaky episode of a favourite television show!).
In the early afternoon I usually get back into it, and keep going through until around 4 or 5pm. Then I’m done for the day and can relax.
I usually have one major project that I’m working on at any given time, so I like to dedicate the majority of my time towards that. Though often I have a lot of admin jobs too, which I find very time consuming. It is sometimes a struggle to ensure that I am spending enough time working on my actual project, and not just on all the little odd author jobs that pile up.
How do you keep yourself on task when you’re working from home?
It can be difficult sometimes to stay focused at home, because I am surrounded by all my 
favourite things, which can be very distracting. But for me, if I have a project I am really excited and passionate about, that really helps motivates me to stay focused. If I am not enjoying the work I am doing, then it is much harder to get up early and much more difficult to spend a full day working.
I am also a big believer in being disciplined about the work I do, using the completion of a project as my main motivator. Sometimes I am not in the mood, but I force myself to push through those times, because if I only ever worked when I felt inspired or in the mood, I don’t think I’d get much done.
Writing is fun, but it is also really hard. If I only worked when it felt fun, I’d probably still be stuck on my very first manuscript. So I do think part of keeping yourself on task is about being disciplined and not allowing yourself to slack off.
How do you take a break properly?
For me, the best way to take a proper break is to step away from the desk and do something different. I love to go and read a book or watch a favourite show, because then I sink into a different story and focus on a different world, and that really helps me turn off. Also, getting outside and going for a walk really helps. I like to listen to music or a podcast to focus my mind on something else.
Do you have any favourite treats or things to have nearby to help you work?
Other than coffee, there is nothing I truly need in order to get into my writing. I don’t particularly like the idea of relying on a certain thing or circumstance in order to be able to write, because if your situation changes and you can no longer access that thing, it could mean you have a lot of trouble writing. Therefore, although I do have a lovely desk I sit at when I write, I make sure I don’t rely on it too much, and I still write in different places every now and then too.
But I guess for me, the one thing that is quite good for deep focus is having music on my headphones. I listen to a lot of instrumental lofi hiphop, and also soundtracks, and that really helps me focus.
What are your thoughts on getting dressed for work when your office is at home?
Haha, no, it's trackies and comfy t-shirts for me. No one sees me, so I prefer to feel comfortable.
What are your top tips for working from home? Alternatively, what has working from home taught you?
I have been writing from home for a very long time, and lately I have started to do my day job at home as well. So far, I am finding the transition easier than I expected.
One thing I have done is set up a work desk space that is separate from my creative writing desk. I don’t like to mix work with my home time. I think by keeping my day job area very separate, it allows me to turn off my computer at the end of the day and step away. This means my work doesn’t leak into my home time, even though it is all now occurring in the same space.
I am also keeping to my office hours. I think that helps too. By having structured work times, it enables you to turn on and off, instead of drawing out your working day into your home time.
What does your workspace look like, and where is it? Would you change anything about it?
Now I have two! My writing workspace is in our end room, surrounded by books on a huge desk that belonged to my great grandmother. My work desk is in our lounge room. I’m trying to keep it very sleek and clean (we’ll see how long that lasts!)
I wouldn’t really change anything about either of them.
What are you working on at the moment?
I have just recently finished working through a manuscript that I am very excited about, and now that it's complete, I already feel a new exciting idea coming on. However, I already have another manuscript that I must finish editing before I am allowed to start on anything new. It is my biggest problem with writing, I am always distracted by the newer shinier idea, and it is hard to force myself to slow down and complete projects before moving on.
So I am trying to do the right thing and hold myself back, ha!