Some writers are reluctant to start families–they are nervous about losing their writing time or sacrificing the unique lifestyle of a solitary writer. Today’s guest on the Morning Media Menu was Eric Puchner, author, writing professor, and expert (as much as anybody can be) on writing while married.
He talked about his recent novel, Model Home–a dark tale set during a real estate bust in the mid-1980s in California. Press play below to listen.
Puchner offered this advice for writers starting (or living with) their families: “People have this expectation that your writing life becomes increasingly difficult the more children you have and the more time you invest in a family. What people don’t talk about is actually how it can be a rewarding experience as a writer to have children. I feel like I write so much about family–much of my fiction is concerned with domestic issues.”
He added: “But I really didn’t realize what it was like to be a parent, obviously, until I was a parent. It provides a lot of insight into parenthood and what your own parents went through. Some of that actually, is valuable material and valuable experience in my fiction.”
Puchner also commented on living with a writer: “I can’t imagine not living with a writer, because I think I would have been murdered in my sleep a long time ago for all this time I spend hunched in front of a computer, feeling like a Neanderthal in my room. I think if I was living with a high-powered lawyer she would have been much less understanding of that lifestyle…We are each others’ editors, and, in a big way, each others’ first readers.”