9/29/2017 UniSearch @ OUM.

Record: 1
Title: No (work) place like home.
Authors: Timson, Judith
Source: Chatelaine. May96, Vol. 69 Issue 5, p40. 1p. 1 Cartoon or
Caricature.
Document Type: Article
Subjects: HOME offices
SELF-employed women
Geographic Terms: CANADAReport Available
Abstract: Reflects on the advantages and disadvantages of working at home
in Canada. Absence of interruptions; Non-availability of co-workers
to kibitz with; Work attire.
Lexile: 1230
Full Text Word Count: 824
ISSN: 0009-1995
Accession Number: 9604176562
Database: MAS Ultra - School Edition
Section: FAMILY MATTERS
NO (WORK) PLACE LIKE HOME
Don't switch on the computer till
you've organized the closet
Working at home is trendy these days, partly because so many people don't have a choice anymore. As the
economy changes, more workers become "self-employed" as opposed to "out of work" (which can mean
sitting on the couch crushing beer cans in your bare hands and crying). Instead, engineers and architects,
accountants and consultants, management honchos and many others Who have become corporate toast
are now swooping down on Future Shops, lugging home enough electronics to start a small
telecommunications empire, and then praying for the phone to ring.

I have been working at home as a freelance writer now for 15 years (minus two separate office-renting
experiences when my children were younger). During these years, I have been euphoric about my
circumstances and so lonely that my heart sank every morning. I have been thrilled that ! could work quietly
without interruption--and jealous of everyone who had colleagues, even obnoxious ones, to kibitz with. I
have been a writing machine--and pathologically immobilized (friends still refer to a time in my life 'known
as "A Decade Under the Duvet," but surely it couldn't have been quite that long).

I started out on a portable Smith Corona typewriter and now have my own telecommunications empire--
computer, modem (which I still can't work), fax. My working routine hasn't changed much, except having
school-age children means I must now survive a breakfast hour with the ambiance of a Chuck E Cheese's
outlet before I can regard my home as my office. And yes, there have been complaints that I lock the door
behind my husband and children a little too swiftly when they leave.

In the silence of a house that is usually over the top with noise--CDs booming, piano practice, shouts of
"Where's my blue sweatshirt?"--I start my working day immensely grateful for solitude. I love being in my
house. If I loved it any more, I could probably qualify for membership in the local agoraphobia society. But
then I would have to leave it to go to meetings.

From a corner of the big window on the third floor, I can watch the wet snow come down or the trees
beginning to bud. The solitude is demanding, but it saves me from one writers' disorder--carelessly flipping
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.newdc.oum.edu.my/eds/delivery?sid=991c19d1-3e9b-4855-8755-7a3ab07c208f%40sessionmgr4010&vid=10&Return 1/2
9/29/2017 UniSearch @ OUM.

my ideas into the conversational pool and watching them swim away. On the other hand, there is no one
around to help drown the bad ones. (I recall, in particular, a one-act play I wrote about Margaret Atwood in
which her hair was a separate character.)

Working alone can make you eccentric, but there is no truth to the rumor--spread by my neighbors--that I
wear pajamas all day long. (There are too daytime clothes made of soft flannel with bunnies on them.) I did
once interview a cabinet minister in my bathrobe, but that's because he called back sooner than expected.
There is also no truth to the rumor that I spend most of my time lying on the couch reading old interviews
with dead and famous writers, or looking for my horoscope in various magazines. I spend some of my time
doing this. Occasionally, I will call a friend who has a power job and give her the Leo update on her voice
mail, only slightly concerned that her boss will plug into the system and hear me saying: "Get this--'A selfish
guy will want you all to himself.'"

On the days when I work well, I have an overwhelming sense of joy. I never thrived like this in corporate
captivity. And on the days when I don't, well, it's still a little voyage of discovery, although what I am
discovering may well be Donna Karan, showing her new fall line on Oprah.

I find it a supreme irony that the one virtue I don't even pretend to possess--self-discipline--is almost the
only one that matters in the working life I have chosen. Do other people live this dangerously? For
inspiration (and to shame myself) there is, on a Post-it Note on my wall, a quote from a dead and famous
American writer, E.B. White: "A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without
putting a word on paper." But even E.B. White admitted that before he wrote, he straightened a lot of
pictures.

Before writing this, I took an emotional IQ test in a magazine (scoring, according to the results, in the
Gandhi range), organized the front closet, rearranged the cushions on the sofa and then sat on it, drinking
my coffee. It occurred to me then that when the home-office trend reverses itself, and many of those
architects and engineers, consultants and honchos are back in their corporate offices, I will still be here.
Even my horoscope says so.

PHOTO (COLOR): Working alone can make you eccentric.

~~~~~~~~
By Judith Timson

Copyright of Chatelaine is the property of Rogers Media Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed
to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However,
users may print, download, or email articles for individual use.

http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.newdc.oum.edu.my/eds/delivery?sid=991c19d1-3e9b-4855-8755-7a3ab07c208f%40sessionmgr4010&vid=10&Return 2/2