Beautiful Porto

The transition from freelance to full employment can be a bit of a challenge. It’s one I’m facing at the moment as I take on the role of Creative Content Editor for a new travel website, basically writing, editing, overseeing, commissioning, and generally project managing the whole production.

So far it’s been a fascinating journey. The sheer volume of work to be done is quite daunting, but I’m realising that that’s exactly how it was with EssentialWriters.com to begin with, except that I was my own boss then and took things one day at a time rather than having a boss present the entire list of objectives to me on a sheaf of A4 pages.

Being part of a team is enjoyable though - I share a small, wonky-walled office in a historic building in one of the nicest areas of Bristol. Each morning I have a lovely walk in to work over bridges, past a turret-towered church and across a park, which wakes me gently and happily, and far more effectively than my walk from my bedroom to the living room ever did.

There’s as much coffee as I can drink, and just the right balance between silence and noise so those things are all fabulous. Plus I’m doing lots of travel-writing - my favourite kind of armchair travel! This week I’ve revisited Geneva, Spain, the Alentejo and Porto, if only in my mind. Bliss!

The structure of a normal 9am till 5.30 day is harder to handle though. I’m having to relearn how to sit and work for several consecutive hours instead of bobbing, working, wafting, working, meandering, working, from around 7am till 9pm as I’m accustomed to.

But I’ve only on experienced one week of my new working life. I’ll let you know how the job, and I, develop as the days go on.