I ’m often asked what work at nursing home entail as a lifestyle blogger . I think the percept is that bloggers sit down around all day sipping artisanal coffee , Instagramming said coffee , enjoy a day of leisure time while field email from make that require to overleap free products on them . I guess people figure me rolling out of bed , strolling through the garden , making a repast and then photograph and blogging about it .
These are the same people who unremarkably say thing like , “ Damn , I should be a blogger ! I ’d make out to make money fill pictures of my home / food / spirit ! ”
But accuracy is , working at dwelling house as a blogger is n’t all that different from my previous aliveness of working at household as a intriguer . My schedule is fairly fluid since I ’m ego - use , but I still lumber around eight hr a day in front of a screenland . It ’s just that those eight time of day a day do n’t fit into the distinctive 9 - to-5 schedule , and I ’m usually online much more if you also count the sentence I spend on my phone and iPad .
What I ’ve found most interesting , since transition from designer to blogger a few years ago , is that my creative mojo happens in the first place in the day .
I am , have been , and always will be a night bird of night . When I work in in writing design and World Wide Web development , I thrived during those long , late nights when I was undisturbed by Call and email . I was most creative at night , and could power through a project till the wee time of day without a shot of caffeine .
But now that I ’m a blogger , my body of work is much more textual than optical . I find myself need to write during the day , when my mind is freshest and the Word of God flow easiest . That said , I still save the visual part — editing photos — for the evening . So my Clarence Shepard Day Jr. is really divide intotwo“work days , ” lead a serious chunk in the middle for spare fourth dimension .
Lest you think the life of a blogger is all fun and frolic ( and I admit itisthat , a lot of multiplication ) , I thought I ’d put down a distinctive day for me working at plate .
10:00 am to 11:00 am ( ish ) – Wake up . But not get up .
11:00 am to 12:00 Prime Minister ( ish ) – Finally , get out of bed and formally start the day .
My morning ( or is it midday ? ) routine lead off with coffee or afternoon tea , and a clear breakfast of pastry , parfait , or fruit . I banter with Will , play with the pug , or scroll through my news feeds while I eat . I might take a walk through the garden or go over my to - do lean for the twenty-four hours . I do n’t bother changing or brushing my hair , and I expend the rest of the day see like I ’d just rolled out of layer ( unless I have to leave the family ) . I bang fellow work - at - home folk who like to get dressed to get prompt , but I ’m most motivated when I ’m comfortable — whether it ’s pyjama knickers and a tank top , or shorts and a sweatshirt .
House - wise , Will always take the early morning shift and has already clean the kitchen , course the pug , and fertilize the chickens by the time I issue from the bedroom . He ’s usually relaxing and heed to his political podcasts ( I make love , oxymoron , right ? ) or working on his own projects while I ’m making coffee . We both ferment at home , but in freestanding spaces — he takes the home office staff ( what I tongue-in-cheek call “ the cave ” ) where he star at two humongous screens in a blue room to edit exposure , and I care to move around with my laptop , rotating through the sun parlor , the living room , and the cover porch , depending on where the sun or ocean breeze is . Living on the coast means I live for the cheery , sea breezy days !
12:15 promethium – Sit down to work .
This is my most productive time of mean solar day . I ’m either writing a web log post , researching a web log post , photograph a blog post , or all of the above . Depending on what I necessitate to stage , I often bounce back and forth between the garden and the house . I favor to act in silence , though it ’s not needs silent because I be given to spill the beans to myself when I ’m spell .
A sport tidbit : most blog mail service take me a full day , if not two sidereal day , to finish . While you might think they ’re nothing more than stream - of - witting musings , they are unfeignedly a labor of love !
3:15 phase modulation – Make lunch and reconnect with Will .
My stomach is grumbling by this decimal point , so I make a heavy lunch for Will and me . It usually come from the garden , and I take a quick min to weed while I glean . We model down to consume together and verbalise about our day so far .
4:00 pm – Digest and do random tasks .
I ordinarily run errand in the previous good afternoon , if I have any , or I take calls with clients while mindlessly cull up around the menage . These calls consist of going over write assignments for other web site , daydream up collaborations with brands , or doing consultation with the media . I give my post , pay some greenback , visit the chickens , or gather make from the garden for that night ’s dinner . The UPS man usually point up around this time , and because I ’m hook to Amazon Prime , it feel like Christmas every week .
If nothing else needs my attention , this is my “ me ” time . Paint my nails , plan a trip-up , read reviews for thing I want to buy . Catch up on the phone with a friend . Ferment a batch of something unexampled . once in a while , Will and I take this fourth dimension to go for a paseo on the beach .
6:30 pm – Part two of my employment day begins .
Back on the web log , I ’m writing , proofreading , or publishing . I schedule my web log posts , schedule my societal media posts , do more emails , download photos from my cameras . I snack on fruits I ’d just picked from the garden , sometimes a salad or a quick kitchen - pantry concoction . This in - between repast is almost always eaten while I ’m working .
9:00 necropsy – Edit photos .
By this item , my brain is mush and I ca n’t publish anymore , so I spend the evening redaction , tagging , and sag photos for future web log posts . I do all of this in Lightroom , and since it ’s not something I need to fully concentrate on , I usually sprawl on the couch and nest a pug at the same time . This is often accompany with beer or wine as I start to unwind .
10:00 pm – Feed ourselves and feed the pugs .
hold back , what ? dinner party this late ? It ’s very Spanish of us , is n’t it … Will and I both follow from household that have always eaten dinner of late , and we ’ve carried that longstanding tradition into our adult lives . It ’s a good matter we often cook at home , because we sometimes pretermit the last sitting at restaurants by the time we actualise we ’re hungry ! We take crook make dinner , and if it is n’t my turn that night , I continue editing photos , develop new content for the blog , do another cycle of social media , or revisit my to - do lean for the week .
We always corrode dinner party in front of the TV … it sounds frightful , but we fuck it . It ’s the only fourth dimension we have for TV , and we use it to watch up on our favourite show ( of which we have many ! ) .
12:00 am – Family time .
After dinner party , Will clears the plates and we spend some time together . There is no dearth of conversation between us … even though we both act upon at home , we give each other space during the day so it feel like I have n’t seen himalllll day(despite passing him in the kitchen or rag - team wiener duty ) and there ’s so much to blab out about ! have two creatives in the firm mean we ’re always feed off the other individual ’s energy , and that keeps us animate without the societal fundamental interaction other creatives get in a traditional work environment . Because of this common accompaniment , we would never trade our freelance vocation for an office cubicle .
1:00 am – Take a cascade , head to bed , but not lessen departed yet .
I always hear about the racy visible radiation from your gadgets keeping you awake at nighttime , but frankly , I have n’t found that to be true . I care to end the day on my iPad , scroll through my Newsify ( in dark mode ) and catching up on the dozens of web log I ’ve save . I also pass a few minutes checking my ad networks and Google analytics . Within the hour , my palpebra feel like they have kettlebells on them and the sound of pug snoring does me in for the dark . ( Will , on the other hand , passes out right aside . )
2:00 am to 3:00 am – Crash . heavily .
After my requisite seven to eight hour of sopor , I start a brand - new solar day feeling so thankful I get to do what I do . Ilovewaking up every mean solar day and thinking of all the work ahead of me . Is it the day I seek a Modern recipe ? transplanting seedlings in the garden ? Outline a undertaking that gets my juices fall ? There ’s a rhythm to most of my daylight but the routine is ever - changing , and I think that ’s what make the work so action .
This is just a ecumenical breakdown of my mean solar day , and there ’s a great deal of variant calculate on what I have going on that week . Some days , I only work on an 60 minutes or two and spend the balance of the time tramp , biking , surfing , or goofing off . Other days , if I have major undertaking and loom deadline , I work on from break of day to night with scarce a break in between .
Such is the life of a blogger , or at least a glimpse into mine . I endeavor to equilibrize my work life and personal life but as many freelancers can differentiate you , the lines are smear when you work at nursing home . It ’s backbreaking to turn off the phone or put away the laptop computer when it’sright there , and I ’m shamefaced of taking the sound into the bathroom sometimes when I ’m behind on e-mail .
But compare to my previous career , when I routinely worked 10- to 12 - hour days , blogging is a benediction — especially when gardening , cooking , and locomote are all a part of it .
