Please share what they do that truly support you. Are there some things they could do better? (Be honest)
12 thoughts on “Reader Friday: Does your family support your career as a writer?”
My husband is a jewel and avid supporter, while also serving as a sounding board when I edit aloud. As a retired federal agent, he’s also my tech adviser. Not a better writer’s advocate on the planet. One son reads everything I write, leaving reviews on Amazon. Everyone else? Don’t really care one way or the other. And they don’t consider it work at all, in spite of the fact I earn a living doing it fulltime. Some family members haven’t read any of my books.
You are a lucky woman to have a husband & son so supportive. Good for you. Ignore the rest.
I would say it’s tolerated as a hobby~ and though I do get royalties from two songs (a solid low 3-figures a year thus far – I’d hoped to pay the boys’ ways through college, just not one textbook at a time), it’s seen as something “interruptable” and therefore a good thing I have a day-job…
🙂
My wife has been my first reader and editor for 36 years. She’s tough, but I listen to my benefit!
Good man
My parents were particularly *unsupportive* when I was growing up. They insisted that I couldn’t make money by writing. It wasn’t until I got a job as a technical writer, making more money per month than my mother ever had as a bank teller, that their view started to shift. My dad became more interested in my struggles to get published as he got older, and my mum now understands that it’s important to me. She’ll at least look after my dog when I go to writing conferences, now. My dad was asking how the writing was going right up until he passed away last year.
The rest of my family range from ‘it’s quaint’ to ‘it’s a hobby’.
Luckily, I’ve met a lot of other writers who are much more supportive and have become good friends.
My hubby is wonderfully supportive and so was my family as I was growing up. I think my father would have preferred it if I had become a scientist but my grades in Astronomy 101 at Wellesley convinced him there was zero chance of that happening. ?
Before she passed away, my mother told me she knew I could do anything I wanted. And she knew that meant writing and editing. My sisters are happy when I publish something new, but I don’t think they begin to understand how important it is to me. As for extended family, it’s always “Are you still doing that writing stuff?” Somehow they miss the relationship between the stack of books I’ve co-authored plus the growing pile I’ve edited and “writing for a living.” I’ve quit trying to explain to them why I write or what editing is all about. At my age, it’s enough to know that I’m doing what I love and doing more of it every day.
“Support” in this context is a tough word, if only because I’m not sure what the opposite would be. Early on, before I’d sold anything and writing was essentially a hobby–and our son was very young and there were soccer obligations and homework to supervise, and . . .–the better word would have been “tolerated.” My wife knew that writing was important to me, but we both agreed that it was something to be done in that slice of time when other husbands would be watching sports or playing golf. It was a me-time thing, not an us-time thing. That’s how it needed to be.
After selling the first book, I think the word switched to “feared.” Was this a one-off, or could I actually do it again? Would storytelling evolve into something I wanted to bet the mortgage on? In that slice of time, my Dad-commitments hadn’t changed, but in addition to my day job, I’d taken on a contractual commitment to write a sophomore book.
Now, two decades later, this is what I do, and after 33 years of marriage, “support” seems too small a word.
Well said, John.
My family has always been supportive, and they are very proud of me. My late husband, not so much. He thought it was a pie-in-the-sky dream. But he was proud when my first short story was published.
I was well into my 50’s before I even toyed with writing. At first, my husband thought it was ‘cute’ but then he realized I was a lot easier to get along with when I was writing. The printer I use for printing my draft chapters is in his office, and he says, “More words to read” when the grind out. (He’ll also say, “No words today?” when nothing shows up for a while.
My mom loves my books (I just wish she wouldn’t share them with her friends. They can afford to buy them!) My dad and aunt asked if I was making any money. When I told them how much I’d made (it was a good year), they accepted that it was a ‘job’. My aunt (who is 97 and can no longer see enough to read) always says, “You still writing books? You enjoy it?”
As for my kids — I don’t write what they read. They did read my first books, because it was a novelty, but were put off by the sex — since, according to one daughter, I got it right.
My husband is a jewel and avid supporter, while also serving as a sounding board when I edit aloud. As a retired federal agent, he’s also my tech adviser. Not a better writer’s advocate on the planet. One son reads everything I write, leaving reviews on Amazon. Everyone else? Don’t really care one way or the other. And they don’t consider it work at all, in spite of the fact I earn a living doing it fulltime. Some family members haven’t read any of my books.
You are a lucky woman to have a husband & son so supportive. Good for you. Ignore the rest.
I would say it’s tolerated as a hobby~ and though I do get royalties from two songs (a solid low 3-figures a year thus far – I’d hoped to pay the boys’ ways through college, just not one textbook at a time), it’s seen as something “interruptable” and therefore a good thing I have a day-job…
🙂
My wife has been my first reader and editor for 36 years. She’s tough, but I listen to my benefit!
Good man
My parents were particularly *unsupportive* when I was growing up. They insisted that I couldn’t make money by writing. It wasn’t until I got a job as a technical writer, making more money per month than my mother ever had as a bank teller, that their view started to shift. My dad became more interested in my struggles to get published as he got older, and my mum now understands that it’s important to me. She’ll at least look after my dog when I go to writing conferences, now. My dad was asking how the writing was going right up until he passed away last year.
The rest of my family range from ‘it’s quaint’ to ‘it’s a hobby’.
Luckily, I’ve met a lot of other writers who are much more supportive and have become good friends.
My hubby is wonderfully supportive and so was my family as I was growing up. I think my father would have preferred it if I had become a scientist but my grades in Astronomy 101 at Wellesley convinced him there was zero chance of that happening. ?
Before she passed away, my mother told me she knew I could do anything I wanted. And she knew that meant writing and editing. My sisters are happy when I publish something new, but I don’t think they begin to understand how important it is to me. As for extended family, it’s always “Are you still doing that writing stuff?” Somehow they miss the relationship between the stack of books I’ve co-authored plus the growing pile I’ve edited and “writing for a living.” I’ve quit trying to explain to them why I write or what editing is all about. At my age, it’s enough to know that I’m doing what I love and doing more of it every day.
“Support” in this context is a tough word, if only because I’m not sure what the opposite would be. Early on, before I’d sold anything and writing was essentially a hobby–and our son was very young and there were soccer obligations and homework to supervise, and . . .–the better word would have been “tolerated.” My wife knew that writing was important to me, but we both agreed that it was something to be done in that slice of time when other husbands would be watching sports or playing golf. It was a me-time thing, not an us-time thing. That’s how it needed to be.
After selling the first book, I think the word switched to “feared.” Was this a one-off, or could I actually do it again? Would storytelling evolve into something I wanted to bet the mortgage on? In that slice of time, my Dad-commitments hadn’t changed, but in addition to my day job, I’d taken on a contractual commitment to write a sophomore book.
Now, two decades later, this is what I do, and after 33 years of marriage, “support” seems too small a word.
Well said, John.
My family has always been supportive, and they are very proud of me. My late husband, not so much. He thought it was a pie-in-the-sky dream. But he was proud when my first short story was published.
I was well into my 50’s before I even toyed with writing. At first, my husband thought it was ‘cute’ but then he realized I was a lot easier to get along with when I was writing. The printer I use for printing my draft chapters is in his office, and he says, “More words to read” when the grind out. (He’ll also say, “No words today?” when nothing shows up for a while.
My mom loves my books (I just wish she wouldn’t share them with her friends. They can afford to buy them!) My dad and aunt asked if I was making any money. When I told them how much I’d made (it was a good year), they accepted that it was a ‘job’. My aunt (who is 97 and can no longer see enough to read) always says, “You still writing books? You enjoy it?”
As for my kids — I don’t write what they read. They did read my first books, because it was a novelty, but were put off by the sex — since, according to one daughter, I got it right.