The Care and Feeding of Authors: A Relative’s Guide for Surviving the Holidays with a Writer

I invite my loved ones to read. You will find me a much happier camper this year if you observe these simple courtesies at Yuletide. 🙂

Jen McConnel

This weekend, I posted some of my tips to help writers make it through the holiday season with our sanity more or less intact. However, I know that writers often make our loved ones crazy, too, so today I wanted to share some strategies to help non-writers cope with their creative relatives.

Writers can be tricky creatures, but chocolate and patience will go a long way!

Instead of:asking the writer in your life how her book is doing (or if she’s got an agent or a book deal yet)…

Try this: ask her how her writing is going. If she answers in monosyllables, that’s a good hint that it’s time to switch topics, so shift gears and don’t stress. Writers don’t always want to talk about their work, but we’re always glad you asked!

Instead of:telling your writer in front of a large family gathering your detailed thoughts…

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~ by Sable Aradia on November 25, 2014.