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Life of a Writer Mom Column March
2002 Column On Being Patient With Writers Writing is not the easiest career choice. What with acceptances, rejections and other surprises along the road, your career sometimes feels like you're on long rollercoaster ride. I've decided though that there's one thing harder than being a writer and that's being related to one. So this column is dedicated to the spouses, significant others and children who put up with us and even encourage us. It's hard for me to imagine what it must be like to be woke up at 11:30 p.m. by your spouse asking such earth-shattering questions as, "Do you happen to know if foxes hibernate in the winter?" Or to be quietly having your morning coffee when out of the blue your wife asks you if peanuts were readily available in the 1850's? What's really scary is that my husband doesn't even flinch when I ask these questions. He's quite used to them at this point. When you walk out of school and see most moms sitting in their cars, waiting to pick up their children and to realize that the car waiting for you is easy to spot. Not because of the color but because of the woman sitting behind the steering wheel scribbling furiously away in a notebook. I don't notice a change when I'm writing. In fact I don't notice much of anything when I'm writing. My daughter, Samantha, however tells me she can spot easily the "Please quiet down I'm on a deadline" look. She says she can tell just by looking at what I'm doing that I have writers block. By the way cleaning is a great way to get the creative juices flowing again. It's not only the writer who gets passionately involved in the story she's weaving. Those sharing her roof also come to know the tale intimately. Dinnertime conversation at our house can become downright bizarre. Often during a lull in conversation someone will pipe up and say, "So, what's George up to these days?" Understand that George is not a relative or a friend but a character in my book. Other dinnertime conversations have grown up around who actually committed the crime my book was based on and what was their motivation. Anyone coming in from the street would think we were discussing recent news, not a murder that occurred in 1855. So what do you say to others around you, when the one you love gets the "I need a pen and paper and I need it now look?" In my family it's excused away with a smile, much like the one you'd give when talking about a slightly addled relative. "That's alright. She's a writer, you know." More than that though, those around me seem to understand the need. I can proudly say any member of my family can produce a notebook and pen, under almost any circumstance, within five seconds. For those living with a writer I offer the following advice. Be patient with us. Humor us. And realize that writing may start out as just another job but it very quickly becomes an all consuming passion. Carla Charter is mom to Samantha (11), Halden (4), and Mathew (3). In addition to being a mom, Carla is a freelance writer specializing in newspaper and magazine journalism. Among her publication credits are Woman's World, American Indian Report and New England Business Journal. Online she has been published in Scubasource.com and Military.com. She teaches creative writing courses at Mount Wachusett Community College in Gardner, Ma. Recently her novel Across Lots has been serialized at http://www.newenglandwow.com. She may be reached at cjfreelancewriter@earthlink.net. |
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