Greetings all, no real news but I have been thinking about something that I find interesting, and decided if I liked it you may (after all you’re reading my blog)

I should note this is less for my readers, most of which are fellow authors like me, and more or your significant other.  They are WOW’s or Widows of Writers.

I know your writer isn’t really dead, but they are in their head, practicing their craft, and putting their stories to paper. They aren’t ignoring you (intentionally) but sometimes, when they are in the zone there is little attention left for you.

How to tell you’ve become a WOW is easy enough, just watch the signs.

The signs are easy to see, one day your loved one started to spend more time in your house library. Another sign being your house has a library.  You have more books in your house then you have food items.  You spend fifteen minutes shopping for clothing, but at least an hour at the book store.  They start spending money on EBooks, and try to deny it by claiming it was on-line gambling or porn.  They spend time not only reading books but rereading, studying the techniques and plots.  They can’t tell you your birthday, or even their own, but mention their favorite character and they can tell you their birthday, their parents’ names, and the dates or times of all the important events in their lives.

Once you know the signs, you will realize your significant other is now a Writer, so what to do about it.  One option is to smash all your computers, laptops and break your spouse’s fingers hoping that the pain meds and maybe some psychological help can cure this problem.  The other option is to let them write. (And if my own WOW is reading – I am advocating Option 2)

Once you accept your now a WOW, you should learn how best to support your Writer. Assumedly you also want to do what’s best to support your relationship.  The answer to both is simple.

Never read their work, and never critique their work!

If your heads have stopped spinning, I should point out that the last statement was not intended to be funny. Think about this carefully: Your Writer has poured a piece of his soul into the paper or photons that he is asking you to read.  If it’s great, they will never believe you, after all you’re their spouse; you’re obligated to like it.  If their work is the worst thing to have even been put on paper, and as you read it you wished you had gone to option number 1 above, how do you tell them this? It will be a double crushing blow after all you’re their spouse, your obligated to like their work.   Worse yet, what if it’s good, but not a genre you enjoy? Now you’re really stuck! You can lie [because lying always works so well in a relationship] or you can be brutally honest [because that works even better].

The best way to get out of the entire mess, don’t enter it.  It’s your spouse; odds are you know their password. If you want to read it on the sly for your own sake, that’s safe. Just never tell them.

Other things you can do to help them, help them be 5 places at once. It’s inevitable they are going to start a Facebook author or writer page, they are going to have an amazon page, they are going to have twitter, and Google + and Linked in and Goodreads, Pinterest, the list only grows.  Help them manage their media, even if all you do is let them know there are comments they need to reply to or there are updates they need to make, its support. It shows you care.

I have more advice for WOW’s but I don’t honestly know if I should do more, or just leave it here? Thoughts?