![\"\"](\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Woman-Working-Outdoor.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
I\u2019m working away from my desk, as my out of office assistant puts it. But I\u2019m still very much working.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m writing out of place. I don\u2019t have my usual working set up. And not just for a couple of days but actually for quite a lengthy period of time.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m writing on a netbook and not my big computer with the giant screen.\u00a0So I\u2019ve done all of the obvious things you do when you\u2019re planning to work somewhere else. I have everything stored on cloud and backed up on a USB. I have the most likely books I need to use, in digital versions of course. I can access the library journal collection via Browzine. My marking is sitting on Moodle and I don\u2019t even have to download the assignments.<\/p>\n
So this all ought to be fine right? Well no. I\u2019m grumpily realising that there are some compromises that I actually don\u2019t like making.<\/p>\n
For a start.\u00a0 My netbook mirrors my desktop screen. Good eh? Well no. \u00a0I have a very particular way of naming and positioning folders on my screen so that all of my current work is bang in the centre \u2013 I can\u2019t help but see the do-it-now folders when I first turn on the machine. These are the reminder list you have without having to make the reminder list. All the regular tasks are \u00a0placed on either side. The middle says THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE DOING NOW. The three columns with space in between looks OK on the big screen and this arrangement works for me.<\/p>\n
Organising your screen display can be useful. \u00a0Knowing where things are really helps your work mood. \u00a0It\u2019s like having your kitchen benches organised so that everything is in its place and you don\u2019t have to waste time trying to find the kitchen towel.<\/p>\n
So just imagine taking a tidy big screen \u2013 and then shrinking it. Shriek. Gasp.<\/p>\n
This is not tidy writ small. It\u2019s actually really hard to find things as they are now in new places on the screen. What\u2019s more, there\u2019s too many folders and they overlap. It\u2019s hard to read the file names.<\/p>\n
This visual disorder puts me in a slightly agitated state whenever I sit down to write \u2013 that is, every morning. I now begin my day by hunting out where I am in the crowded file display in front of me. Yes, yes, I hear you say, just combine some. Of course I could just sort things further, but then I\u2019ll have to do the same in reverse when I get back. But I might have to do this if I continue being jarred by the very look of my workspace.<\/p>\n
And next. The screen itself is small. Working on a big screen means that you can get a lot in front of your eyes at once. Working on a tiny netbook means the reverse. As I am writing this, I now can\u2019t even see where this post began. While this lack of overview doesn\u2019t matter so much for blog posts, I find it is pretty irritating for more sustained writing where reading back over what you\u2019ve written to check for flow is an important part of composing \u2013 well it is for me anyway.<\/p>\n
So do I lash out and buy an additional screen? Well probably.\u00a0Eventually. Maybe sooner if I keep getting bothered by this limited see-scope.<\/p>\n
And just don\u2019t start me on the space I\u2019m working in. I\u2019m on a table shared with other people, eating, reading, listening to music I don\u2019t like, there\u2019s even television on some occasions. I\u2019m sitting on an ordinary chair. I\u2019m absolutely used to a posh Aero chair which keep my back sorted, and a proper solitary office. I really don\u2019t do this new arrangement well.<\/p>\n
Of course it\u2019s manageable. It\u2019s just not what I usually do. I realise that, like a tennis player- yes that\u2019s been on while I\u2019ve been trying to write \u2013\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>I have a set of routines and rituals associated with writing. I notice when they are missing. I can\u2019t help but feel out of sorts \u00a0when my accustomed ways of writing, thinking and reading change. I\u2019m very much a writing creature of habit.<\/p>\n I\u2019m just not sure how people who write in coffee shops actually do it, but I guess this is its own kind of ritual where change rather than same-old-same-old is the norm.<\/p>\n As is often the case, a change of scene has been a bit of a disruption. I\u2019m thinking about the embodied practices of writing. I\u2019m remembering that how we write, where we write, the kit that we have and how we organise it, underpins how we feel about the writing that we do. And perhaps how we actually do it.<\/p>\n And I\u2019m thinking that some of the writing advice about developing a daily writing practice focuses rather too much on time, rather than space, stuff and body.<\/p>\n But that\u2019s enough of that. I clearly can write, albeit a little out of sorts. And there is of course one compensation. On good days I can work outside on the balcony. There is still a table and a crappy chair.<\/p>\n But there is The View. And bird song. And once a day, sunrise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"