A Sitting Target

I am in the kitchen. Nothing wrong with that – many people work from the kitchen table – but I try to avoid it at all costs. It makes me a sitting target. I am too accessible and I don’t like it. I fight distraction on a daily basis and I don’t need to make things worse for myself. I honestly don’t know how other people do it. Or do they?

Are they really working from the kitchen table? It seems the worst place of all to work.

Carpets are being fitted upstairs today so once again I have been on the move. I’m not sure that I will get very much done – but I’m prepared to give it a go.

For my own preference, I like to shut myself away in another room to work. The kitchen is the hub of the house these days and the fashion for open-plan living gains in popularity. We live that way ourselves. But I can’t work in the hub. I like to hide away in a bedroom or shed and keep distractions to a minimum. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been able to work with the noise of drills and hammering a constant cacophony in the background. I can do that. Who knew!

But the kitchen is a no-no for me despite this new revelation, and for a myriad of reasons but one figures higher than any other.

The kettle is in the kitchen – and the positive in this case does not outweigh the negative. Not when you have tradesmen coming and going. I’m in the kitchen, I am the closest to the kettle, there are constant requests for tea and coffee. It’s cold outside. I feel torn.

Should I switch off the electricity or just learn to say NO?

Would that make me rude?

Am I being unreasonable?

What is being reasonable anyway?

I’m thinking about being reasonable a lot lately because the protagonist in my novel is thinking about it too.

And I am wondering – what would Kate do?

Just going to make myself a cup of tea while I think about that.

So how did it go?

Surprise, surprise! I managed to get quite a lot done at the kitchen table after all. And I didn’t have to disconnect the electricity.

What a revelation. It’s possible after all. Which just goes to show that you shouldn’t knock it until you’ve tried it. Not that I’ll keep it up. It feels like work is too much of my life if I work there. It’s good to be able to shut things away when you’ve finished a day’s work and draw a line under it. But I did get quite a lot done.

I think it made the disruptions more minor and for shorter time periods. I put the kettle on and worked while it boiled. Made the drinks and took them out and got back to my computer in no time at all.

Is that being reasonable?

Or time efficient?

Or productive?

Or a waitress?

It can be so many things can’t it, depending on your perspective.

I am choosing to be productive. I’ve come to realise that if it works don’t over analyse – just do it!