I'll Sit in the Dark

I often spend a large part of my day at home in the dark.  Not dark-dark--it is daytime, so some sunlight comes in, but I often turn on few if any actual lights.  My husband finds this incredibly funny--the first thing he does upon walking in is turn on lights.  I just find that the dark focuses me (though I will admit, there are isolated days when all it really does is make me want to go back to bed).

Why the dark?  When I was working in TV studios and edit rooms, I was certainly no stranger to the dark.  The studio was always dark (not dark, as in nothing happening, dark as in no light!), except for the set where we were shooting, the control room was lit only by a wall of monitors and some spotlights illuminating our scripts, and the edit rooms were often just me and the light of the computer screen.  So despite the fact that I have for years avoided driving in the dark, I became quite accustomed to working in the dark, shutting out all except the work at hand.  Old habits die hard, I guess.

I've read all sorts of things about working from home--dressing the part, setting aside a work space and work hours so that the time you save on commuting doesn't get completely consumed by your dealing with all sorts of household chores during the time when you're working.  So, since our apartment doesn't really allow for a separate work space, and I can't really justify wearing "Dry Clean Only" clothes when my day is bookended by waiting at school bus stops, perhaps the dark is just my way of carving out a work space for myself.  So let them laugh, and squint, as much as they want.  I'm in the dark, and I'm getting my work done.  And I like it that way.