Remote Work: How I Transformed My Desk into a Remote Workspace

Welcome to my series on remote work! I first had remote work thrust upon me during the COVID-19 pandemic, when I had to take online writing courses to complete my undergraduate academic work. I was pleased to return to in-person work during my graduate studies and for the first few months of work after graduation. But I've since learned to love remote work, and I'm excited to spend the next few blog posts sharing my strategies to make remote work work for me as a writer and editor.

The first strategy is my desk setup. Here's a glance at my full but organized workspace:

(An image of my desk and the walls around it, as described in the post!)

I've made sure that the walls around me are covered in pictures and notes from my friends and family - my hidden favourites are the paintings on the right, which I got in Galway during a trip for a scholarly conference on James Joyce!

The left side of my desk is dedicated to helping me remember why I work: in the back are flowers from my boyfriend, a lamp that I've decorated with literature quotations, a picture of my mom and grandma, a spoon that my best friend got engraved with a Virginia Woolf quotation, and a statue of Mary Undoer of Knots. (This statue often has notes with particularly troublesome editing or writing problems underneath, to remind me that she's helping with them!) Just in front of this collection is the pile of my currently-reading books: right now there's a balance of novels and academic texts.

As we move right, across the front of the desk, we come to more practical editing and writing tools. My partner in crime is the "plan de la semaine" planner that I bought in one of Montréal's many Dollaramas. I'll zoom in on that planner in a later post! Then, of course, comes my laptop (covered in stickers), a note pad, and an empty space where I can put reference books as I'm editing or double-checking a style guide. Finally, the back right corner of my desk is for the chaos of ink wells, loose leaf papers, notebooks, and pencil cases, held together by more Dollarama organizers.

For me, this desk setup is a major help with remote work. It makes a small part of my apartment into a haven of productivity and a reminder of why I love editing other people's writing.

Stay tuned for some other aspects of my remote work style!