Right now, I’m at that stage in revisions where I lock myself in a room with an endless supply of tea and chocolate and live, eat, breathe, and sleep the book. When the ms has been sent off to my editor, I will emerge, blinking and confused. I will stare at my husband and my son and try to work out if they’ve changed, or if my eyesight has just got worse.
Last week over lunch, before I started this particular round of revision madness, I had the great good fortune to talk with an internationally best-selling author. She confirmed my suspicions that all writers act this obsessively, sometimes to the detriment of their nearest and dearest. “Bless my husband,†she said to me, “I do so make his life hell, but I couldn’t do this job without him.â€
Since this past weekend was Valentine’s Day, and because my revisions meant that yet again, I failed to get my husband a gift, I thought I would take this opportunity to offer writer’s partners in general, and my husband in particular, a heartfelt open thank you letter.
Dear Husband,
Thank you for taking the kid to the park in the rain, again.
Thank you for saving up all the things you have to tell me until the end of the day, even though I’m sitting right there at my desk, staring into space, apparently doing nothing.
Thank you for not getting too offended when I yell at you for interrupting me when I appear to be doing nothing.
Thank you for doing the vacuuming, even though I do wish you’d remember to do the stairs, but nobody ever looks at the stairs anyway, so thank you.
Thank you for the 2,314,872 cups of tea.
Thank you for listening to me rant on for hours about the problems in my latest book.
Thank you for suggesting things to solve those problems and then not getting upset when I snap, “But that would never work!â€
Thank you for tactfully ignoring all the photos of half-naked men on my computer.
Thank you for that time you met one of my favourite pop stars and told him your wife was an author and she listens to his music all the time while writing.
Thank you for taking the kid to the museum to stroke the stuffed badger, again.
Thank you for saying, “There are things that matter more than money.â€
Thank you for realising that going to see the latest Batman movie really is research.
Thank you for saying, when I got all those rejections, “Those people obviously don’t know anything.â€
Thank you for listening to that song, just one more time.
Thank you for insisting that today, I came with you and the kid to the park.
What would you thank your loved one(s) for?
No related posts.
Thank you for understanding that “scrounge” is a perfectly good answer to the question, “What’s for dinner?”
Thank you for saying, “And I read her book, and it’s really good,” to Michael Connelly when he was signing his book for me.
Thank you for understanding why I ask how to poison a cat — and suggesting a really different way to do it (although the way your eyes lit up was kind of creepy)
Thank you for driving to writer’s events so I don’t get lost.
Thank you for just being there.
Ah, love, true love…
Like I always say, washerboard abs and slaying dragons is nice, but they don’t come close to the Real Thing.
LMAO about the ‘appearing to do nothing’!
My wonderful hubby hasn’t yet figured out that there’s a big difference between plotting and daydreaming.
Oh, I can relate! Great post, Julie. Thanks.
I’d like to thank my husband for just being. He’s always got my back through thick and thin, and a lot of family carp…And writing.
Thanks for not wincing when you get home from work and I’m still in my pajamas, unwashed and pungent, and sometimes still facing the same character dilemma as when you left.
Thank you for taking me to the park to brainstorm and not looking embarrassed when other people thought I was having an intense, philosophical conversation with myself.
Thanks for understanding why I must listen to certain songs repeatedly, even if I wouldn’t listen to them in real life.
Thanks for the drives when writer’s block starts to hurt.
Hi Julie,
Great post!
I’d thank my hubby for just being there – and for when necessary, *not* being there!
Sue xx
…and knowing the difference!
…And thank you all for posting your own thank yous! I must admit I got my DH to sit down and read this blog the minute it came up this morning. And that your thank-yous are very similar to ones I could have said, as well.
To me, it’s a testament to true romance.
And thank you for running to the post office for me because I really don’t like that part o the job.
Thanks for believing all my heroes are based on you.
Oh, boy, do I hear you about the post office, Susan. I give away eBooks only so I don’t have to go to the post office as often.
Awww!!! That actually made me tear up! (And snicker at the similarities going on in my own house.
)
Julie, this was an excellent post! I actually e-mailed it to my husband because I could relate to almost every single thing (I told him to simply substitute “diet coke” for “tea” and it was right on!).
My husband and I thank you!
Definitely second the listening-to-me-rant part.
And having the grace to not mention that I basically say the same thing with every single book.
(Oh, and my guy DOES do the stairs. But not, alas, the bathtub when he cleans the bathroom. Half of me wonders why that is, the other half is just glad at least 2/3 of the bathroom gets cleaned.
)