Writing and relationships.

I had a guest over from Japan for the weekend and it was nice having someone in the house for a while. However, I did find myself feeling conscious of the amount of time I was on the computer trying to do some stuff. I couldn't have imagined starting to write at the that point, it simply would have been rude .

There was also another time once when I wanted to spend time with a girl friend, but was also trying to finish the first novel. I suggested we could take our respective work to a café. That way we could still spend time together while getting our work done. It did not go well. After about an hour and a half she had her first out bust, which went something along the lines of, “It’s like I'm not even here!” Needless to say I've never tried that again.

So how do people get around it in full time relationships? In Steven King's writing book he talks about how his wife is his great support, but he’s raking in millions, so it might be easy to be understanding at that point. Is it the same when your an Indy writer, that also has to do some “real” work to pay the rent?

Can relationships and writing really go together?