Neeraja, there is no way you will ever change your traditional family or friends who believe that you "go to work" and if you are home, ergo, you are not working or you doodle around. Don't waste your time trying to change them. When they see your art, does it occur to them that it takes as much time and effort as it takes to complete any other job and that you are unique in that no one could replicate your particular art?

All kinds of artists face this situation. My cousin and her husband are graphic artists. In the age of computers, they have been able to work from home more than not and it allowed them to extend their work lives to a far later age than they would have if they had to go to work in the ice and snow or the broiling heat of summer as they used to. They never got rich at their work but they have a nice home, raised and educated three wonderful children and have been productive all their lives, even if they stay in their robes and slippers all day. But my cousin's husband will be 80 his next birthday and he still works a full-time job without leaving the house. My cousin also turns eighty this year and still works almost full time as well. As long as their minds are clear and their eyesight is fine, they can generate an income in front of the computer and email their work to those who contract it. Working keeps them young. But neither of them is healthy enough to handle daily travel - especially in the kind of inclement weather the Philadelphia region suffers.

I'm a writer and manage a small business from home. I certainly do not take a lunch pail to an office. I work at home and love not being on a routine but I work as long and hard as anyone. It is just not under the scrutiny of a boss who knows less than I do about my job!

My son and granddaughter are professional musicians and may have a few performances a month God knows where on the planet but when they are sitting at home, they are writing material, calling to set up performances, rehearsing. Creativity doesn't require a separate work address.

Don't worry what people say. You know how hard you work and that often, you put in more hours than people who work a forty hour week. People who work outside the house rarely skip a meal. I've been known to submarine into work after breakfast and not come up for air until well into the night.

The only benefit you have is that when you take a bathroom break, there isn't a supervisor standing there with a stopwatch. But when the muse hits you, you may work through the night. I know I have done that many times.

As long as you are self-supporting, you are working. If you just sat home eating bon-bons and watching soap operas, no, it wouldn't be work, even if you called yourself an artist. Just smile and pay your bills. Others' opinions may hurt your feelings but don't change reality.

Your friends and family will never understand that it takes more discipline to work at home than when you have a boss looking over your shoulder. And that work at home is more difficult because you don't have a guaranteed paycheck. You get paid only after you sell your work.

As you can see from my family story, I come from a family that is familiar with working at home. We creative folk are not like other people. We are less dependent on others. We take risks and we have feelings that are easy to hurt because sensitivity is part and parcel of creativity. My art forms are music, prose and the practice of therapy and the way I practice it is art, not science. All take place at or are centered within my home. I wish I could add one of the visual arts but I couldn't draw water from a well. I can write about it though ... and thinking about it, writing is a visual art form!

There are two issues: your own self-motivation and training your intimates to respect your privacy. If you lock your office door, turn off the phone or don't take personal calls, you will be able to focus on the matter at hand and also be notifying others that you're "at work".

I make To Do lists. When I am in the locked door mode I pick one that I'm willing to do and do it. Eventually I will get to all of them but sometimes I am in the mood to market, other times to create. Allow yourself those moods.

Thanks Milt for your thoughtful comment. The job of a work at home artist does have benefits. There is certainly no need to retire and in many cases artists produce way into their senior years. I find the story of your cousin and her husband inspirational. I like it when you said we creative folk are not like other people. I believe this to be true because I keep very different hours, and to be able to create what I do takes a particular focus, and then to sell it to others is a incredible experience. Its always new and different. Heres something Im creating, and someone is inspired by it and wants to buy it! I see after having the experience with different collectors that my art speaks to the hearts of people; and I step aside to watch the admirer cultivate his or her response to a piece. I think thats the creative link all artists share in all mediums speaking to the heart. Im able to speak to the hearts of many people through my work. I wish people in my personal life could be more understanding. Because Ive found such a great vehicle of communication in my pieces I find myself wanting to speak less and less. And then I found TBD...

Im very self motivated and very happy when left to work as I will. I think I have a problem with my intimates, often Im considered uncaring and self centered but Im often trying to think about what Im doing or what I going to execute next. My intimates tend to think that I dont care about their feelings. Turning off the phone went over like a lead ballon. I certainly could work on heathy training....Lists are the best and I never make enough of them! I do think that marketing and creating are different moods and the marketing time is much newer than the creative time

Welcome to Bec, Isadora, and Milt!

I put on the tunes and get busy... I guess I've never thought about self-motivation... ya gotta get busy, the more I get busy, the more art I make, the more art I make, the more money I may earn... what more motivation should there be? I got a family to feed, I can't be laying around all day, even if it sounds nice.

I do have the opportunity to take off when needed, and often do - but I can also go out into the shop and work at midnight if the mood strikes me - that rocks!

to quote dr. phil...you teach people how to treat you...and this applies to working at home...if someone drops in just to visit when i am working i may, if i am not way involved, stop for a tea break and then say, "well, i have to get back to work," or if i am really not in the mood to stop what i am doing i simply tell them i am working...we don't need to be shy about claiming our worktime...if we worked in an office they wouldn't think about dropping by and sitting down to visit at our desk...as far as self discipline, that isn't difficult for me as i always look forward to getting to work, altho sometimes when i am not quite in the flow i will begin to just move around the studio, organizing my workspace, or do preliminary things like picking out reference photos, cleaning, laying in a simple background...and inevitably, the creative force takes over...then again, there are some days it's better to just go for a walk.