A change of scene
“It’s like going to work!” I said to my friend.
We’re sitting in a gorgeous cafe in a village south of Cambridge. It’s light and airy, with a bit of a 1920s vibe. We have a big table, and there’s a plug socket behind my seat.
We’ve pledged to tick something off our task lists before we’re allowed to order lunch. (In case you think we’re freeloading, we’ve got drinks.)
I’ve been self-employed for nearly 8 years. It’s been a mostly solo experience. That’s fine for doing deep work, which most of mine is. But there’s no-one to ask, “what do you think about…” or “I’m stuck on….”
Over the past 18 months I’ve been branching out a bit, trying to be less of a hermit. I run co-working in Rachel’s Writing Club, I hot desk in central Cambridge, and I have started going to You Are The Media’s Work Together sessions.
This month however, things changed. I have a contract which comes with colleagues. I’m part of a team.
And after a couple of abortive attempts at meeting up to work in venues that didn’t suit us (too cramped / too noisy / unstable internet), my friend and I have got the hang of genuine in-person co-working.
It’s an opportunity for a change of scene. We catch up on the way to the venue we’ve chosen. We know the tasks we want to tick off. We respect each other’s need to get that done. We chat when we take breaks, swapping tips and testing out ideas.
And it is like going to work. It doesn’t matter that we have totally different businesses and are working on different tasks. For that day, we’re colleagues.
It’s ace.
Things that held my attention this week
If you’re into writing, or indeed creating anything, then I recommend following Austin Kleon. I added several books to my TBR pile after reading this post:
Following on from last week’s article WTF is happening? I promised myself not to assume that because people aren’t out on the streets, these issues have gone away. I know this is the third week in a row when I’m sharing a link to The News Agents podcast but their piece Inside the ‘cult’ of the Far Right is well worth a listen.
On a lighter note, I enjoyed this anecdote from Joe Lycett:
https://instagram.com/p/C-Xmc62IkqF/
What have you been up to this week? Do you have something you think I’d enjoy reading or watching? Please share it in the comments.
