Today marks a milestone in my travel writer’s life. After seven and a half years of working out of my living room (when not on the road), I just became a member of the Brooklyn Writers Space and got myself a cubicle. My very own space to write!

I’ve blogged about the extremes of travel writing, which often make me feel quite bipolar. These extremes have been on my mind for a while now so instead of mulling them over I decided to take action.

While I still may find myself glued to the computer screen in my cubicle, at least I will have a place to go to every morning, streets to walk, shops to pass and people to see. So often, when things get hectic and articles pile up to looming deadlines, I spend days on end in my apartment. On good days I don’t mind. But then there are those days when I’d love to be a “normal” person who heads to the office for their daily nine-to-five.

And, of course, there are the distractions. My mother calls, the mailman rings the bell, my husband asks me a question mid-thought, the sky that my desk faces turns beautiful and me dreamy, I get inspired to make myself a meal… and suddenly I realize that a couple of hours have passed and I’ve written: one sentence and change.

Somehow, I still managed to get by for almost eight years without missing deadlines. And I’ve built up a successful freelance career. But, with the seven-year itch making itself known, time has come for a change.

My new “office schedule” will start in late November, when I return from three upcoming trips: Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Portugal. I have ambitious plans, to sit down at my cubicle at 9am daily and work into the afternoon. Well, let’s see. It’s just great to know there’s a lovely little cube waiting for me a 20-minute walk away from my apartment, where rules are strict (no talking – yeah!) and creativity fills the air.

If somebody told me eight years ago that I’d be excited to work in a cubicle, I would have called them flat-out crazy. Funny how things change.