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I’ll try to keep this quick. Just because Jon and I don’t work in an office and wear suits to work, some people treat us as if our jobs aren’t real. They call in the middle of the day and feel slighted that I can’t talk for an hour. If I had a “real” job, would they still do that? Do they think because Jon’s boss happens to be his wife that they can call up with less than thirty minutes notice for him to move furniture? Yes, they do. They did. Today.
Yes, he could have just said no, but it was a relative, and the relative is doing a favor for another relative. but this particular relative always acts as if our schedule is completely free. When we first got married he would show up unannounced and act as if we could drop everything to visit with him. I was sorry that he’d driven for an hour one way, but he should have called first. The first time we visited, and explained the difficulty. The second time, we just explained the problem, and went back to work. He finally started calling the day of, and if we couldn’t meet him, we’d tell him. He’d say it was the only day he had that week, and we’d explain that we were sorry but it was a bad day for us. He seemed to take it personally, like we didn’t want to see him. That wasn’t it. But if Jon worked in an office in a big glass building, I don’t think his relative would keep wanting to meet in the middle of the business day. Writing is a job. Damnit. Not a hobby. And Jon’s job is getting ever more complex as we add new computer enterprises to our little empire.
If he had asked first, that would be one thing, but just assuming that Jon was free, that was inconsiderate. I used to think that people didn’t treat my job as “real” because I was unpublished. Then I got published and it still happened. I thought well it’s that I don’t earn that much, they still think it’s a hobby, or if I had more books out, they’d take it more seriously. Nope.
I don’t know how I could be a more seriously working writer, and still some people treat it as if the writing happens by magic. Like I have some wand in a drawer somewhere and just a flick of the wrist and the words pour out. God, I wish it was that easy. Writing a book takes a lot of time, dedication, and just plain hard work. Jon acts as both computer wizard, sounding board, brain storm partner, research assistant, and hand holder. That is a very important job with a deadline less than four months away, and a book tour coming up. Jon and I always get a little tense just before tour. Alright, I get a little tense. Alright, I get a lot tense. Things that would normally not be that big a deal, really get under my skin. Darla’s job is sometimes just to make sure my mood doesn’t rain all over some innocent bystander. Jon and I both get moody about similar things, so we’re not always a lot of help to eachother in this circumstance.
I think if just once I wasn’t in the middle of one book for one series, while I was preparing for the tour for the next book, I’d be less tense. I’m doing more and more Anita interviews for INCUBUS DREAMS, while trying to stay in Merry’s point of view. I’m still working on being able to talk and think about one series while staying steady in the pocket for the other. I’m getting better at it. I guess its like any skill, you just need to practice. Again, this may have needed to go in the soapbox section. Sorry about that.