When I retired in 2011, I thought the time was right to become an entrepreneur. I’d have the freedom to do what I wanted, when I wanted. I wouldn’t have to deal with idiotic bureaucracy. I could work from wherever I felt like: on a beach, at sea on a cruise, or chilling at a coffee house.

I started a business. I ran through our savings and never got a single paying client.

Desperate to bring in some money, I became a freelancer. I burned out and made myself ill from the stress.

I created e-commerce and affiliate marketing websites…

My husband and I now both work from home. Currently, our offices are right next door, in bedrooms #2 and #3 of our house.

Offices are designed to minimize sound. They have sound-absorbent ceiling tiles. Cubicles are lined with sound-absorbent cloth padding.

Houses are not.

We learned to communicate at a distance with clients and coworkers using the telephone. With a telephone, we can hear our own voices, and modulate the sound based on that feedback.

Now, we use headsets and Zoom meetings. We get no vocal feedback. If it’s hard for us to hear someone, we assume they can’t…

My road to writing this article has been anfractuous. First I was inspired by my colleague who wrote about her experience writing a word-of-the-day challenge. She dished the dirt to peach on the challenge, but her summary alone would not have inspired me to go through all the rigmarole to try it myself.

Then I followed the breadcrumb trail back to the writer who originally proposed the didactic challenge. I started to glean how the challenge could benefit writers, beyond those competing for a monetary prize.

It breaks writers from the solipsism of scouring their own reflections and bumptious reactions…