I’m spending more time than ever in our study - both doing freelance work of an evening, and often working from home in the daytime. Carving a half sensible working environment out of our otherwise chaotic house has not been easy - but has been necessary to engender any kind of working atmosphere at all.
A room without paintings by three year olds with michelangelo aspirations. A room without half a jigsaw sprinkled across the floor. A room without cuddly toys stuffed in every corner.
If not for the book cases behind me, this room could almost be used to talk to clients. The book cases resemble an overhanging cliff - threatening an avalanche of all manner of miscellany at any moment. It could take rescuers days to dig survivors from the flash flood of Dora the Explorer detritous.
The main benefit of this room of course is that it has a door that shuts. It works in much the same magical manner as going for a walk. No children in direct ear-line means no noise, and that gives our brain half a chance to think about anything other than the war going on in front of our nose.
This multi-tasking business is hard.