Friday, July 9, 2010

Five Ways to Drive Your Husband Crazy with Your Writing


When it comes to writing, my husband and I are unequally yoked. Where was the pastor during our premarital counseling on that one?

No matter what trivial or microscopically mundane life experience- I want to write about it.

Writing, on the other hand, is not something that occurs to Paul. He just isn't wired that way. You can imagine the fun we're having on my book-writing journey.

Terri Tiffany recently shared over at her blog "Five Ways to Drive Your Husband Crazy with Your Writing". She did such a great job, she inspired me to play along.



Five Ways to Drive Your Husband Crazy with Your Writing


Talk to him about authors he has never read and never even heard of before. Writers are readers. If we are not writing, we want to talk about writing. There's nothing more frustrating for him or me, then trying to discuss writing styles with someone who doesn't care. To make this even more enjoyable, attempt to discuss authors with a husband who has never read, and wouldn't read their book, even if it were the last one sitting on the dusty library shelf.

Ask him, "Which word sounds better?" every fifteen minutes. My husband is not a grammatical genius, but he is far superior than I when it comes to the English language. If I had a penny for each time I asked him, "Do I write out the number or just type it in numerically?", I would be writing this blog post from a cabana in the Bahamas.

Each time he gives a painfully honest critique, remind him he's not your target audience. Writers are extremely insecure people. Extremely. If I write something funny, or witty, I want to know it's communicated in a way the reader will get. If Paul doesn't get it, I've learned to protect my writer-anxieties with the well known writer-catchphrase, "You're not my target audience."

Become frustrated when he doesn't respect your writing time - only to find you later on Facebook. I know God is good and He loves me. But, for the life of me, I don't know why He would ask me to write a book on busyness. I have the attention span of a gnat. Which means, even with the best of focused intentions, I tumble down rabbit holes on a regular basis.

Hand over your computer each day with an I don't know what happened look on your face. If it weren't for Paul, I would still be using an IBM Electric typewriter. He is my beloved husband and computer geek-extraordinaire. It amazes me how attractive a man becomes who understands Microsoft Word.

Mothers- share this bit of wisdom with your daughters looking for a godly man. Computer literacy is a must!

11 comments:

RefreshMom said...

Ahh yes. Our unequalness-es manifest themselves differently (starting with DH being a Mac and me being an IBM, so #5 is already off my list), but I can definitely relate. Maybe we need to start a support group (I know a couple others who'd love to join)!

Mary Hampton

Denise said...

You make me smile.

mariel said...

oh, i LOVE this VERY timely post!!! I am nose deep in the trenches of edit approving with my publisher! I am reading over the editor's changes and having to approve or make changes and my man is going nuts as I ask him the same questions over and over...only to then remind him he is not my target audience!! hahaha! I love this, Joanne!! thanks for the laugh in the midst of the tediousness of book publication!! :)

Braley Mama said...

Those are good tips for all of those hobbies that we don't always share as married couples.Are you writing a book? I would love to read it!

Mary R Snyder said...

Girl, my sweet man has listened to so MANY of my 'which word sounds better?' He's been with me on the highs of writers and the lows. He kept me in popcorn, diet Sunkist and pink marshmallows when I was on a SHORT deadline.

And the whole attention span thing... we are sisters in that one... now what were we talking about?

Anonymous said...

I don't have a husband (yet) but I do believe you! hehe. I hope you are having a great weekend!!

elaine @ peace for the journey said...

I thought I was the only one with the attention span of a gnat...

From one gnat to another, have a wonderful week ahead!

peace~elaine

Wendy said...

Drive my husband crazy? Are you crazy? You actually ask him which word sounds better?? There's no way I would even go there. I go to my children and drive them crazy instead! My man's patience for my writing passion is, well, about as long as my attention span--that of a gnat!
Thanks, JoAnne!
Blessings,
Wendy

Unknown said...

Hey Joanne,

What a cute blog! I laughed when I read it! My husband, too, is a computer whiz and not one for much writing or reading.

He, however has started his own blog. He has one follower - me. I probably need to send a bunch of people over his way!

Thanks for making me smile today. Hope you are doing well. No "technical issues" today. I'm not sure what happened when I got on your blog the other day.

Thanks, too, for posting my book on your Facebook! That was a really sweet thing for you to do, and I appreciate you!

Blessings,
Melanie

Aunt Angie said...

Giggling at you two from here!

Aunt Angie said...

Giggling at you two from here!

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