You can tell who the pioneers are, it’s said, because they’re the ones with the arrows in their back. If you’re one of the pioneers of home-office work, if you run a home-based business, if you work for a big company and telecommute, or if you’re involved in telework any other way, you’ve probably experienced your share of slings and arrows. We’d like to share your stories here, and put the best of them in a forthcoming book for the benefit of others.

Take for example what happened to Phil Plait, The Bad Astronomer. He writes:

It’s funny how life changes when you quit your job and move a thousand miles away . . . today I was going through some stuff, and printed out some papers. I needed to staple them, so I open the desk drawer. Hmmm, no stapler there. How about the cabinet? Nope. Shelves? Other shelves? Kitchen? Nope, nope, nope.

I needed a stapler. I didn’t have one.

How can I not have a stapler? How can anyone not have a stapler?

And then I remembered: you idiot, you have to go out and buy one….

Sometimes even something as simple as having to buy your own office supplies can be an eye opener when you’re new to telework. Then there’s the big issues such as disciplining yourself to keep to a schedule, or finding ways to stay in touch with the world, or selling new clients on your expertise, or keeping the baby quiet while your negotiating a big contract.

On the other hand, working from home has some very distinct advantages such as a clothes budget that only needs to cover a new pair of slippers.

So write a comment below and tell us about your unique home-based job or business, tell us about the weird scam you almost fell for, tell us about the funny experience you had, tell us about that tough (or simple) problem and how you solved it.

Don’t worry about writing great prose, how short or long your story is, or even spelling. We can clean it up for you. And, if we use it in the book, we’ll only do so with your prior permission.