Red Room Where the Writers Are

I’ve wanted to blog about being a writer’s husband for a while now but have struggled to do it since I feel that my blog entries would end up looking like a to-do list stuck to a fridge with a smiley fridge-magnet or list of single line ‘tweets’ (or ‘twinks’ as I call them) for Twitter. In the end I thought I’d just put down a list of random to-do’s that I try to remember to keep up with. :)

 - Remember to water Gina.

- Make toast for Gina within 10 minutes of her waking.

- Do not speak to her when she has that scrunched up look on her face or has a gormless look with her eyes looking off into the distance. I find the latter very amusing as she is the cleverest person I have ever met.

- Do not speak to her when she is looking at her laptop.

- Do not speak to her when she is looking at her books.

- Don’t take phone calls in the same room while she’s working.

- Do not pace around (a habit of mine while I’m working) in the same room while she’s working.

- Whisper while speaking to delivery men. Smile a lot so they don’t think you are mad. Smile more because that approach fails anyway so try to look like someone who smiles and whispers a lot.

- Remember to order extra bookmarks for her next book signing.

- Tip toe as stealthily as a ninja on a mission whenever walking around her as she works.

- Kiss her on the head regularly as she is working so she knows that I’m still in the flat (apartment).

- Remember to water Gina some more.

- Remember to order more posters for her book signings.

- Have spare pens within reach so when she loses one (or I ‘accidentally run off with one!) she doesn’t have to get up to hunt for something to write with.

- At random intervals clear a path through the mountains of books that are by the bed (she sits, perched at the head of the bed, working to her hearts content) so that she has at least half a chance of being able to climb off to go and hunt for more books and notes.

- Help move the books back and forth that she uses for research which cover almost every square inch of the bed every day.

- Remember to water Gina some more.

- Make sure Gina has a snack sometime in the afternoon.

- Try to remember the location of books she might need on our numerous book cases, particularly any obscure ones that she hasn’t used for a while but will probably need today.

Read the list a certain way and it could look like a strict list of chores but actually it is not meant to sound that way. I love the part I play in her life and would not change it for the world. 

Gina works long, irregular hours which I imagine is normal for many writers and artists so I try to work and live around it as much as possible. Personally I think that it would be more natural for people to live and work the same hours that Gina does (1200 to 0400) but hey, that’s just my opinion. LOL! For the time being though we live in different time zones as I have to be up between 0600 to 0800 during weekdays but we manage to accommodate that admirably in my humble opinion. :)

Thanks for reading this blog. :)