Being an author is a lot like having a regular job, you have a schedule, you have deadlines, and you have income. But you also need support from your family. Part-time authors often need their family to be understanding about the time required to write. This week, we find out about our family support.
Question 50: How much support for your writing do you get from your family?
My mother got me into my genre-of-choice in the first place, and my close family-members have always been supportive of my efforts, both in school and as a self-publisher. Maybe not quite comprehending, but supportive! Several of my relatives also read and enjoy my books, and it’s nice to get feedback from them, though I do wonder if they go through it and think ‘she’s writing about such dark things, is she feeling alright?’ Yeesh.
Well, no one in my family really reads my books (my mom tried, but the first chapter scared her too much hahha), but they’ve all been very supportive of my dream. Even if they don’t read the books, they purchase them and tell their friends about me and understand when I wanna be left the hell alone to work out this scene or that…
A fair amount. There was doubt at first, but once I published, they have been very supportive.
I use them as a sounding board. My hubby is very supportive of my writing. Although he does keep asking when the bestseller will be published!
My family supports what I do but aren’t cheerleaders. This is probably because I don’t talk to them about my efforts as much, but it’s fine for me. My partner is much more enthusiastic and cheers me on.
I get a good deal of support for my writing from my family. My wife reads every article (or at least I assume she does) as do my parents. By support I mean they read what I write and occasionally comment on it. Right now my writing is simply through my blog, certainly not full time and it makes zero dollars. But it’s something I enjoy so I’m supported in my endeavor… err hobby?
Great question. Huge support from my family. I could not be luckier. My wife has a MA in English lit and insists on proofing every chapter before I submit it to the online writing workshop I use. She is not a grammarian – but she does call out gaffs, typos, and gross mistakes — but her feedback on the story is always helpful.
My twin 16-year olds read my manuscripts and provide gut-level feedback and a bit of copy editing. One of my 16-year olds is also an accomplished artist and is working on some artwork for me to include in my upcoming novel. She provided a map for my first publication (you can see it in the “Look Inside” feature of the paperback version of my novella on Amazon).
My parents were also very supportive, though they never had much interest in reading what I was writing. They just had different tastes in literature, but they always encouraged me to write.
The one qualifier I’d add is that though my family is very supportive, I only hand them something to read about once every six months (other than my wife proofing before I submit). I don’t want to bombard them with every new page. It would not be fair to them, and frankly it would distort the feedback, and getting frequent feedback would confuse me. For instance, after I finished my first novel, I wrote the sequel – about 75K words at the time – proofed it a number of my times myself, and then handed it to them. That was the first time they saw any of it (which was a funny story – both read it cover-to-cover in three hours, sitting in the living room in silence, flipping pages, my wife twisting her hair, which she does when something makes her anxious).
Those in my house know to leave me alone when I’m at my writing desk…for the most part anyway. Friends and family know I’m a hermit during November and May, which are my intensive writing months. Their support is in the form of leaving me alone to do my thing. My kids occasionally get roped into reading a draft because their good nitpickers. I’ve raised them well.
Enough that I’d never complain about it. Small encouragement, and maybe more importantly, none of the belittling that I’ve heard some authors describe. Everyone whose opinion I have to deal with understands how much effort is involved, I think.
The easiest way to answer this weeks question is just to copy/paste the relevant acknowledgment from In Siege of Daylight. Needless to say, family has been integral in my ability to write (even if sometimes I have to take out the trash instead of write a colossal multi-threaded climactic battle scene).
“Thank you to my family, both immediate and extended, for your love and support and for the unceasing encouragement of my writing since the notion of telling stories first took hold of me. To my wife Sigrid, who has indeed suffered long and hard through the glacial pace of this novel’s progress. She has supported me, believed in me, been appropriately frustrated at me when I am a doofus, and occasionally allowed me to stay on as her shiftless kept man – I love you!
To my daughters Iliana and Sabine, I love you too, more than you will ever know, and even more than I embarrass you. Really.
To Mom and Dad, for instilling in me a love of reading and writing and all things fantastic. Dad sat us on his lap and read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, complete with pipe and smoke rings. Mom, although pipe-less, introduced us to Narnia and The Hardy Boys and many other lunch-time reads too numerous to mention.
To my brother Stephen, my partner in imagination. His hand-me-down books and encyclopedic knowledge of everything he’s ever read filled in the foundations of my science fiction and fantasy lexicon. He introduced me to Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever and The Many-Colored Land, among others, and explained the intricacies of both the Marvel and DC universes. Especially Batman. Lots and lots of Batman.”
– Gregory S Close. In Siege of Daylight (Kindle Locations 11930-11940). Booksurge.
I get a fair amount of support from those in my family who understand what I’m trying to do. Unfortunately, for most of them it’s beyond their capabilities to “get” it, for various reasons. My only recourse, (and thanks to my eldest son and my best friend I’m able to do this) is to run away and work outside of the house.
I get some mixed support from my family. My biggest supporters are my mom and sister. They’re very understanding that I need time and quiet, though they live on the other side of the world (although at this time, my sister is sitting on the sofa about two metres away from me). My wife is skeptical, while my daughter doesn’t care. Of course, my daughter is only three years old, and would rather interrupt me repeatedly than let me use the computer.
But since my sister tends to like similar genres as me, I think she’ll probably read my books.
How about you?
Are you a writer? How much does your family support you? Please leave your answers in the comments below.
I Read Encyclopedias for Fun 
I am truly looking forward to reading your books!
Reblogged this on North of Andover.
As an author of children’s books, middle-grade and novels of suspense my family don’t know what to make of me. I started getting serious about my writing once I retired. My husband, who is my illustrator, is my support since we work together especially on the children’s books. There are times that I work non-stop which gets him exasperated. Lol! I am a woman on a mission.
I dedicate my books to my grandchildren (the children’s & MG ones, that is) which they love but it is the grown ups who do not seem to be as supportive. I am still waiting for reviews from them or for some of them to even read my books. My reviews have been excellent from readers I don’t know and some I do. Fellow authors have been very supportive. Thank God for their ongoing support.
It can be daunting waiting for family to help out. I think they are waiting for me to fail or quit altogether. But I will not. I plan to have published 25 books over the next several years. I already have 10 published and working on three more. I think I am going to succeed with or without their support. Hope you will check out my work. http://Jemsbooks.com
Jemsbooks for all ages is my slogan and Reading Gives You Wings to Fly is my motto. I believe you make your own way in this world with the help of God. I am blessed to be given this ability to write. For that I am grateful.
I love to hear from readers! I appreciate and welcome reviews! Thank you!
Thanks for the comment. I think what’s important about what you said is that you think you will succeed with or without family support. I agree. It doesn’t matter if I have support from family, but I have to believe in myself.
Good luck with your writing. I have yet to publish, but that day will come.
Thank you! Yes, Jay, just need to believe in yourself and work hard. Blessings!
Reblogged this on On the Edge of Enlightenment and commented:
It’s always good to know your family supports what you do.
Reblogged this on and commented:
A good support system can be pretty important, but sometimes also hard to come by. This week the authors and I are talking about whether or not our writing is supported by our families.
I am not a writer who makes money, even though I am starting to publish some of my poetry. I appreciate that my parents, sisters, spouse, and daughters read some of my work and my husband and daughters sometimes critique for me. My husband is also supporting my participation in my first week-long poetry residency/workshop next month, which means a lot to me.
That’s great. Glad to hear you have plenty of support from your family.