Summer plans

Finally the last of my plans for this summer have been confirmed: I'll be spending almost seven weeks in Edinburgh from the 5th June onwards, and then just over two weeks in Stirling.

Stirling, picture from here.

This time my Scottish summer (although I admit that the use of the word summer may be misleading in this context) was almost as randomly planned as last time - it was an idea born from a night of partying and a bit of insomnia, which, let's face it, clearly is a recipe for fantastic ideas.

Basically, for those of you who don't speak Finnish and haven't already read about this here, I realised (in my  alcohol induced state) that as a freelancer, I'm not really tied to anything, other than an internet connection, so why not head somewhere else for a bit and work from there? This simply marvellous idea then led to a few enquiries, and soon I had secured myself a room in the old town of Edinburgh for several weeks, and a cat/house sitting job in Stirling for a couple of weeks as well.

Three weeks to go until I head out there, and I'm so excited! I'll get to meet up with all my friends, enjoy one of the most beautiful cities in the world, go to ceilidhs and horse back riding on Seacliff beach, and all those other lovely things I've been missing! I'll also get a few visits from friends who have never been to Scotland before, so I'm really looking forward to introducing them to my second home.

I don't care if my summer will consist of more rain than sunshine, I'll be happy anyway! And I won't miss out on the Finnish summer either, as I'll be back on the 8th August.

Scottish weather forecast

Working from home

So, apart from a few last loose ends to tie up, I have finished my studies, had a little cry about it, and taken my first steps into the scary adult world. I have taken the step from being a part-time student/part-time translator, into being a full-time translator, working from home.

I've been really lucky so far in the sense that I've had quite enough to do, so no complaints on that account, and let's hope it lasts. What has been the major problem, as I knew it would be, has been getting up in the morning, getting started, and sticking to it. Last summer, when I had a job to go to, I had no trouble getting up early, getting myself ready and heading to work so that I'd arrive at 8am, even though I had a flexible schedule and most other people wouldn't arrive until 9am, or even later. I just enjoyed finishing at 4pm instead of 5, so I came in early, no problem. Now, however, getting out of bed has become a major struggle, and once I get out of bed, instead of having breakfast, getting dressed, putting my face on and starting work, I hang out in my pyjamas, get stuck on Facebook and various blogs, and don't even remember to make breakfast for the first hour or so.

And then there's of course the issue of productivity during the rest of the day, although I have found that if I manage to get started fairly early, I am also better at handling distractions that come up later in the day. I am, however, hoping to get myself into some sort of normal working rhythm, with days from 8-4 or 9-5, and evenings and weekends off. We'll see how that goes.

But now I wanted to share something with you that a friend shared on FB, and which is very accurate indeed. The full comic can be found here.

(Although, on second thought an alarm clock that sounds like that could solve my main issue...)

(In my case the lingerie models wouldn't be too much of a temptation, but you get the idea)

That last one is especially accurate, as I just finished today's work at around midnight. This is what I'm trying to avoid. Better luck tomorrow!

Ps: If anyone has any good ideas on how to increase productivity when working from home, please share!