This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
For many years, writing was something I did on a very part-time basis, fitted in around my family. Amidst all the dramas of life with three small children, writing felt like a blissful escape to sanity and peace, a chance to retreat into my own world, far away from anyone shouting “I HAVE DONE A POO!”
These days, my children are all at school and the house is quiet between nine and three o’clock. At first I rather enjoyed the solitude, especially after all that mayhem, but at the start of this year, I was struck by a new, unexpected feeling of boredom and even loneliness. Left to my own company for much of the day, I thought yearningly about my old pre-kids jobs at the BBC and various publishers, and all the gossipy tea-breaks and lunch hours I’d enjoyed in the past. It made my present lunchtimes – me, alone in my kitchen with a boiled egg and Radio 4 – look completely tragic.
Something had to change. And thank goodness, then, that I stumbled upon The Guild, a co-working centre in Bath. The Guild is shared office space for creative/tech workers to come in and use a desk, either on an ad-hoc basis, or by signing up for a monthly total of hours. There is funky wallpaper, music playing, a cool diner area, free tea and coffee, the legendary Cake Wednesdays, and – best of all – lots of really interesting, friendly people. There is even talk of a night out drinking cocktails soon. It took me all of five seconds to sign on the dotted line. Yes, please.These days, I have the best of both worlds. I have that precious thing – a room of my own, in which to retreat and write my books, but also a more sociable space to go and work in too, for those days when I feel cabin-fever-ish and long for company. Plus, there is something about actually paying to work in a place that forces me to write instead of faffing around online. The clincher, though, is being able to go shopping in my lunchbreak… now that beats a boiled egg hands down, any day of the week!
One Night in Italy by Lucy Diamond is out now.