Getting Help at Home
It bears repeating that just because you'll likely be doing your work from home, you are not a stay-at-home laborer. Your presence in your house should not translate into you doing all of the chores that you and your spouse used to split when you both worked in office jobs.
Hopefully, your spouse will be supportive of your writing and will understand that when you are home, you need to be sitting at your desk doing research and crafting query letters. Still, even the most supportive spouse may slip from time to time into thinking that because you're “around,” you can handle everything from dealing with exterminators to mowing the lawn.
It's imperative that you draw a line between your work time and your personal time at home. Just because you are physically in your house does not mean that you should have to do all the chores and work associated with home ownership. If your spouse doesn't understand this, then you need to bring in help around the house.
This is the kind of situation in which you should ask for — or demand — some in-home help. Many magazine writers working from home have in-home child care, landscapers, and housekeepers to help ease the tension between what they can handle themselves and what their spouses expect of them.
These types of assistants may seem like a financial luxury, but in reality, they are the people who will allow you to focus on your writing in your home office. It's not just your career at stake; it's your long-term sanity. Don't you think that's worth a few extra bucks a month?
