Ruston’s tips: baby homework
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Novelist Jessica Ruston knows all about working from home while simultaneously looking after a baby. She was editing her fourth novel while her daughter Lila was 3.5 weeks old… here are her top tips on how to make the juggling act as pain free as possible:
1. A smartphone is your saviour. I am constantly using mine to email myself notes while I’m walking the baby/look something up/write a quick paragraph in the notes app before it goes out of my head/dictate a few sentences into the voice recorder if I don’t have hands to type a note. It means I
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can check emails and make the occasional work call while looking after my daughter. As long as she hasn’t stolen it to watch videos of the Jungle Book on YouTube, that is. I’m afraid I also use it to shut her up for sometimes – apps of animal noises keep her busy when I need five minutes quiet to get something done…
2. I couldn’t have managed the first 6 months without a good sling. Lila had most of her naps in it while I typed – I swear the sound of clacking laptop keys must be like a lullaby to her now. It was also the easiest way of calming
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her down when she got a bit screamy, and meant I could have both hands free to make a cup of tea. And yes, I have been to the loo wearing a sleeping baby on my front.
3. Get your head around the idea of working in much – MUCH – shorter bursts than you’re used to. It actually becomes something of an incentive, I found: there’s nothing like the ticking clock of a napping baby to spur you on to get that thousand words written or that project finished before they wake up.
4. Related to this – download Freedom. It’s a super nifty app for your
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computer that immobilises the internet for a set amount of time. Essential if you are in any way easily distracted by lovely blogs and the like. Ahem.
5. Find a local cafe you can escape to to work in, with baby or without. Sometimes you just need to get out of the house. I have one around the corner that I can get to in five minutes and where I can park myself for a couple of hours with laptop and peppermint tea and get some work done. When she was small I had her in the buggy next to me, now I usually manage to leave her with her father for a bit –
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but either way, a base outside the house can be a sanity saver.
6. Green and Black’s. 85% dark chocolate is my rocket fuel most mornings. Butterscotch is my sugary weekend treat. But pretty much any will do. I get through so much of it and feel it’s so vital to my productivity that I’m thinking of claiming as a taxable expense.
The Lies You Told Me by Jessica Ruston is out now in paperback and as an ebook, published by Headline Books
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Jessica Ruston - 8 Sep 13
Novelist Jessica Ruston knows all about working from home while simultaneously looking after a baby. She was editing her fourth novel while her daughter Lila was 3.5 weeks old… here are her top tips on how to make the juggling act as pain free as possible:
1. A smartphone is your saviour. I am constantly using mine to email myself notes while I’m walking the baby/look something up/write a quick paragraph in the notes app before it goes out of my head/dictate a few sentences into the voice recorder if I don’t have hands to type a note. It means I can check emails and make the occasional work call while looking after my daughter. As long as she hasn’t stolen it to watch videos of the Jungle Book on YouTube, that is. I’m afraid I also use it to shut her up for sometimes – apps of animal noises keep her busy when I need five minutes quiet to get something done…
2. I couldn’t have managed the first 6 months without a good sling. Lila had most of her naps in it while I typed – I swear the sound of clacking laptop keys must be like a lullaby to her now. It was also the easiest way of calming her down when she got a bit screamy, and meant I could have both hands free to make a cup of tea. And yes, I have been to the loo wearing a sleeping baby on my front.
3. Get your head around the idea of working in much – MUCH – shorter bursts than you’re used to. It actually becomes something of an incentive, I found: there’s nothing like the ticking clock of a napping baby to spur you on to get that thousand words written or that project finished before they wake up.
4. Related to this – download Freedom. It’s a super nifty app for your computer that immobilises the internet for a set amount of time. Essential if you are in any way easily distracted by lovely blogs and the like. Ahem.
5. Find a local cafe you can escape to to work in, with baby or without. Sometimes you just need to get out of the house. I have one around the corner that I can get to in five minutes and where I can park myself for a couple of hours with laptop and peppermint tea and get some work done. When she was small I had her in the buggy next to me, now I usually manage to leave her with her father for a bit – but either way, a base outside the house can be a sanity saver.
6. Green and Black’s. 85% dark chocolate is my rocket fuel most mornings. Butterscotch is my sugary weekend treat. But pretty much any will do. I get through so much of it and feel it’s so vital to my productivity that I’m thinking of claiming as a taxable expense.
The Lies You Told Me by Jessica Ruston is out now in paperback and as an ebook, published by Headline Books
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