This week we caught up with Katie Treggiden who has written for many of your favourite design publications. Katie shares her story, from quitting her job in advertising to follow her lifelong passion and making her five-year-old self proud.
Image by Yeshen Venema
Tell us about yourself
I have wanted to be a writer since I was five years old, but it took me until my 30s to pursue my dream. I started writing a blog called confessions of a design geek, which was a place to document my growing interest in design, making and sustainability. To my absolute shock, it was nominated for mydeco’s Best Interior Design Blog in Great Britain within five weeks of launch, an award it went on to win. That gave me the confidence to make the leap into writing full time and I haven’t looked back since. I have written for all the titles I grew up reading (The Guardian, Elle Decoration, Design Milk, Crafts Magazine, Viewpoint), I have crowdfunded, launched and edited an independent magazine called Fiera and I am currently working on my fifth book. I also work with craft and design brands to help them tell their stories. I think I am finally doing my five-year-old self proud!
Image by Yeshen Venema
What’s the one thing you wish you knew in your first year as a writer?
That I would make it, that it would all be okay – that ten years on, I would be doing a Gold Nuggets interview to share my story! Most of the people in my life thought I was absolutely mad to walk away from a lucrative career in advertising to follow this ‘pipe dream’ and sometimes mine was the only voice of encouragement and belief – even that got pretty quiet at times. It would have been wonderful to know for sure that I would one day be able to make a living doing what I love.
What are your top tips for working from home?
1. Get up and get dressed just as if you were going into an office. It puts you in the right mindset for the day. Wear something comfy, sure, but something that also makes you feel confident and ready to take on the day. Paint your nails or polish your shoes – whatever gets you in the zone.
2. Get comfortable in your own company. I moved from the buzzy atmosphere of an advertising agency to a studio at the bottom of my garden and it took a lot of getting used to. Having a dog helps – I chat away to him all day!
3. Invest in a proper office chair and desk set up. Your knees and elbows should be at right angles and the top of your screen at eye-level. I did my back untold damage in my first few years of working from home by sitting on a dining chair hunched over a laptop.
Image by Yeshen Venema
What was the best bit of advice you were given and who gave it to you?
Before I set off backpacking as a teenager, my step-father told me that if I was half-excited and half-terrified, it would turn out to be one of the best things I ever did. He was absolutely right, and I have taken that as life advice ever since. Today, I rarely embark on a new adventure if it doesn’t deliver those two emotions in equal measure.
What’s your ambition as a writer?
That’s a big question! When I started out, my ambitions were to write for the Guardian and to write a book, so part of me thinks I should be happy with that and kick back and enjoy it. The other part of me (the part that is in charge!) is looking for the next half-exciting/half-terrifying adventure, which might be a TED Talk, a Sunday Times Bestseller or a column in the Guardian. Those are my big hairy audacious goals, but they are really all just ways to use writing to bring about positive social change – words that make a difference – that’s what motivates me.
What song motivates you and why?
I get easily distracted by music with lyrics so I tend to listen to jazz or electronica when I’m writing, but if I really need to get into the zone, it’s got to be classical cello. I have recently completed a part-time Masters (History of Design, University of Oxford) and it was Yoyo Ma that got me through. His rendition of Bach’s Cello Suite 1 in G Major is just perfect.
Thank you Katie! If you have questions take a look at Katie’s website as well as her Ask Me (Almost!) Anything 20 minute consultancy sessions with the money raised going to FareShare, a charity that delivers surplus food to vulnerable people.