Introduction
How an Artist Can Work from Home: Starting as an artist, including an author or poet, by working from home is attractive to many creative people when they are just starting out. That’s because of the cost savings. Adapt a room to use as a studio, and you are ready to start! That’s certainly how an artist can work from home.
It seems very easy, but many people find out very soon that it can very hard to stay focused on the task at hand. At home there are many distractions that surround you, even if you live alone. The problem becomes more acute when you live with other family members, and especially if you have children.
This article discusses some of the things that you can do to keep the creative juices flowing amid the various distractions of home life.
Define Your Work Space
The first common sense action is to separate spatially, the area or rooms(s) you will use for working in. Do this even if you live alone.
Tell the rest of the family in the home what those rules are, and stick to them.
Plan a Program Overall or Each Arts Project by Project
Pin your plan/ schedule to the wall, or in some other way ensure that you have it available at all times to refer to and comply with. In other words, you should set yourself a schedule and stick to it.
Don’t forget to update your schedule regularly, either.
Whether you are an artist or following any other pursuit, reward comes with applying one’s self to the creative process. Unless, you put in the hours to practise, and pursue, your artistic passions the outcome will be disappointing for any artist.
Stay Offline and Avoid Time-Sucking Social Media
Social media is clearly a useful tool for the astute artist, when used for the specific purpose of promoting his art work, such as poems written.
However, it is so very easy for people to waste whole mornings or afternoons on an enjoyable, but remarkably extended period of time, just sharing posts, and messaging friends.
The temptations for time-wasting once online are so great that our recommendation is to avoid social media totally, until outside the allocated work times.
Leave the Television Set Switched Off
This is an obvious one. However, we thought it worth including. Limit yourself to no more than possibly allowing yourself some music of the sort which you know will aid concentration.
Make Rules on Permitted and Non-Permitted Interruptions
Simple rules, are a good idea for partners, friends and children so that they know under what circumstances the artist can, or cannot be disturbed.
Equally important though, will be the personal discipline of the artist, not to wander off and start doing things with a fellow home occupant!
Taking breaks, is of course acceptable, and should be done at set times and with a planned duration.
Get Organized and Stick to It
So, the previous points lead us to the point where all that remains is to stress the importance of getting, and staying, organized. A good way to do this is to plan each week ahead on every Monday. Fill in your tasks and task duration for each day, and keep that schedule to hand for frequent reference.
For a poet or author, plan the number of words that will need to be written per day, and then once the initial writing is done, allocate time to the necessary grammatical checking and reviewing tasks.
Give Yourself Treats and Generally Seek to Reward Yourself
Work out what those will be. Try to keep them healthy if they are related to eating! And, make the most of those little treats!
Conclusion to How an Artist Can Work from Home and be Creative
Planning and organisation and then keeping up with a schedule has been the main theme of this article. It should be clear now, to our readers, that working from home takes some discipline.
Nevertheless, once any artist masters what they need to be creative, they will be one big step on the way to enjoying the many benefits of working at home.