But the results are in, and I must say, I'm thinking that writers need a support group dedicated solely to writers who don't feel supported by their partners.
Some notable stats from the survey
Do you consider your partner supportive?
76% said yes, 24% no.
So roughly one-quarter of writers don't feel supported by their partner.
Have you ever gotten in a fight about how much time you spend writing?
61% said no, 39% said yes.
Thirty-nine percent of writers out there have gotten in a fight about how much time they spend writing!
Now, perhaps I should have asked this question differently, as a few commenters said that they fought about the process of writing, not just time spent writing.
How many arguments have you had?
62% said this question was not applicable. Good for you guys and gals! But more interesting to me as a therapist were the 25% who had between 1-5 fights, the 6% who had less than 10 but more than 5, and the 7% who have had too many fights to count.
It's clear that this is a topic that needs some attention, given the prevalence of fighting and feeling of not being supported.
One interesting stat was the genres represented in the survey. Here's the breakdown:
Almost 48% were comprised of YA/NA and speculative authors. Does that mean YA/spec authors are more likely to take surveys? Be trolling the internet? Seriously...anyone else surprised!
What next?
After reading the comments (and I read everyone...thanks so much for being honest about your struggles with unsupportive partners!), a few themes really stuck out:1) How do writers help partners (especially non-readers)
"get" them and their passion?
2) How do writers communicate their physical
needs to their partners?
3) How do writers communicate their emotional
needs to their partners?
4) How do writers weather hurtful comments like
"get a real job" and "when are you going to bring
home some money?"
So these are the questions I'll be delving into for the next two Mondays at least. I hope you'll join me for these posts!
Let's Analyze
Are there any other questions that you'd like me to address? If so, leave them in the comment section below.
