FRIENDS & WRITERS
Writing can become, ah, a bit of an obsession. Quiz yourself to see if you have a balance or if you’re socially impaired like me.
Where did the myth of lonely writers come from? Real life. Probably mine. The weird hours, concentration and total submersion into our craft take a heavy toll on our social lives.
Friends are very annoying when the interrupt a creative roll, so we tend to brush them aside. It’s hard for them to understand while we rarely or are slow to return calls, texts and messages. Or why we decide not attend that new movie, concert or event originally planned. Or why we forget a visit we promised.
“But I’m writing,” we protest.
“Write later,” they reply.
It’s especially a challenge to nonwriter friendships. Here’s quiz to test what kind of a friend a writer makes. Take it and see how you rate.
(1) Your friends ask you to go to a concert with them. Do you:
(a) Attend the concert
(b) Beg off to meet a deadline
(a) Buy print cartridge instead of concert ticket
(2) You invited a few friends over for the evening of the fifteenth. At eight P.M. you are:
(a) Putting the last minute touches on the appetizers
(b) Scooping papers and manuscripts off the furniture
© Still in your PJs fingers flying over the computer keyboard as you swear at the doorbell
(3) Your friend calls to cry on your shoulder. What do you do?
(a) Say come on over
(b) Make soothing sounds over the phone as you continue typing
© Interrupt to brag about your latest sale
(4) Your meeting your friends for lunch at a restaurant at the mall at noon. Noon finds you:
(a) Greeting your friends and waiting for a table
(b) In the bookstore setting up a signing
© Home eating yogurt and editing a final draft
(5) You’ve just emerged from a long writing binge and suddenly feel very lonely. You:
(a) Go to a movie with a friend
(b) Call a few friends and discover they’ve moved away
© Write an article on lonely writers
SCORE:
5 points for ever (a) answer
2 points for every (b) answer
0 points for every © answer
22-25 points – true friend (obviously not a writer)
15-21 points – okay pal (you must not have deadlines)
9-14 points – social caterpillar
0-8 points – lonely writer
shimmerfall 