This means that I’m in the very fortunate position to be able to spend every day with her and my wife and then get a solid 5 hours in at night. I sometimes work until 1-2am if needs be.

I don’t know what I used to do with all the time I had before my daughter was born and somehow, having less time has made me much more productive (something that I know you can relate to Thomas).

Also being location independent and usually working in different timezones to my clients means that I can start my working day as they are going to bed and have work ready and waiting for them the following morning.

I do work weekends if deadlines are extremely tight…. I don’t like doing that but it does happen. I MUCH prefer to play-sketch on weekends and doodle and such.

If I were at a party on Friday night and a client called me on my cell phone, I’d let it go to voice mail. Boundaries, people. Boundaries.

http://www.truestarhealth.com/members/cm_archives13ML3P1A22.html
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/04/on-early-birds-and-night-owls.ars

I am night owl and have been as long as I can remember. I am also very efficient with my work time, delivering work on or before deadline.

In my experience, most people who deal with outside vendors do not get around to dealing with them until about 10-11am, so this is the time I begin my work day. To start, I usually go over client and industry related email then deal with ongoing projects. I stop for lunch at around 2-3pm and usually only take about a half hour. If I have a slow day and have something important (personal) that needs to be dealt with, I handle it at this time (as midday is usually the best time as most people are working and I can have it taken care of quickly). I go back in the office to continue working and to check out new opportunities from various sources. I take a break again around 7pm for dinner, which I take an hour or so. In the early evening I read personal email and take some time to go to my personal social networking pages and interact with my friends (I don’t really watch TV other than an occasional PBS show… I do not and have nor have ever had cable so less distraction for me). After 9-10pm, I get back into my projects and usually plow through them at this time. I am extremely productive in the evening and I find that I have the least distractions then. I often end my work day between 2 and 4am.

My day may seem longer than most, but I balance my personal life with my work life and it works for me. My husband also works from home and is a night owl, so we keep each other company. I also try to do more personal things over the weekend, but I do take time during the week to go to social and networking events.

Regarding the article, I think the person who received the call is also responsible for the situation. They should have either let the call go to voicemail or take the call and discuss it privately in another area. I don’t see accepting the call as rude (in our industry work comes when it comes, especially advertising work) but to disrupt a party by dealing with the call in the middle of a bunch of people is a bit tactless.

Personally, I only accept business call during business hours and prefer dealing with clients via email. Email is much less invasive, is to the point and documents the conversation. I can also answer more thoroughly and in my own time, which is always in a timely manner. If someone is willing to pay top dollar for a rush/overnight job, I’ll be happy to work on it… otherwise they’ll just have to wait for a response and the work.

Weekends are a different matter, unless we have something planned for the day it is like a full time job day for me. Gives me a chance to finish those jobs I couldn’t do during the week, catch up on my blogs and do a bit of the so-important marketing.

So in general my working hours depend of the clients unfortunately, and what I mean by that is that it depends on on if I have any work to do that day. If by some misfortune I don’t have any pay jobs I try to start some personal project, or learn a bit of Cinema 4D (really want to get into 3D illustrations).

So as a reference:
Weekday: – 3 to 5 hours (and loads of coffee)
Weekends – 6 to 8 hours (siesta not included)

I get up at about 7am and take an hour for breakfast and e-mails/Twitter. I then have a 45 minute walk (if I leave it later I become more & more reluctant to put my work down & go out). I then settle down and work until 12.30/1.oo when I usually have a super-fast lunch, then get back to work until 7.30 when I have a proper break for dinner. I only usually have one break in the afternoon, when I’ll have a coffee & a snack, and read more Twitter for 30 minutes… I prefer long uninterrupted hours of work rather than regular breaks. If I’m really busy I’ll carry on working in the evening until midnight or 1.00am if necessary.

Two evenings per week I work a 4-hour shift at my part-time job, so on those days I only have until 5.30pm to draw, but I can fit in eight hours before my shift so that’s OK. And I work all day on Saturdays. I leave Sunday-Monday free if possible for quality time with my partner… I’d rather put in crazy hours midweek to leave these days completely free.

I’ve never really been asked to work to deadlines that were too unrealistic, and if I have I’ve always been able to negotiate the deadline OK. I just accept that my style is time-consuming and that I’ll have to put in long hours on almost any job!

Sometimes 3 days a week and sometimes 13, I’ll be out by 6pm or 2am, totally dependent on the nature and stage a job may be at.

Definitely try to keep sundays free though.