Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Partnered Work Ethic

I'm about to drive Shawn (who HATES to travel) off to the airport for her big trip to Washington, D.C. She'll be gone until Friday. And I'm just curious... those of you out there who are married/partnered/SOed writers, do you find you get more or less work done with other half gone?

For me, it varies. I can sometimes become hyper-diligent, particularly in the evenings when I'm usually willing to say "screw writing!" to hang out with popcorn, my sweetie, and a Netflix movie. Other times, I find myself sublimating by playing far too much Solitaire / Peggle / whatever late, late into the evenings... the kind of nights when I look up and say, "Wha...? 2 am already??"

What about you?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

More. Moremoremoremoremore. Significantly, outrageously, overwhelmingly more.

I find the lack of another person in the house to be the easiest environment in which to get writing done.

Stephanie Zvan said...

Depends on how long Ben's gone. If it's just for a day or so I tend to goof off a bit. Longer than that, though, and I can settle in for some serious writing.

Douglas Hulick said...

It depends. If it is during the school year, it doesn't matter. I still have the afternoons, so I get as much done (or not) as usual. If it is during the summer, than my production drops to zero since I have both kids on hand most of the time.

Douglas Hulick said...

Actually, I'll amend that: if I am writing in the evening, I get more done when Jamie is at home than when she is away. I think it is because, if I am taking time away from being with her, I feel like I have to be working. This translates into less time wasted noodling about the web, wandering the house, staring into the fridge, and so on, since I can now be "caught" not writing.

tate hallaway said...

I can say for certain now I write LESS... at least this time. Though I'm thinking of blaming the heat rather than the lack of partner....