When you’re used to talking about things it’s hard to not talk. Lately I have been finding it difficult, as Mick has been reading my newest novel Streets on a Map.
I found it hard to sit next to him, wondering what he was thinking as he was turning the pages, wondering how he was responding to what I’d written. I know other writers and their husbands and loved ones are their first readers while the manuscript is still in draft stage. I can’t work like that. Mick might get to see short pieces I’ve written and when I was writing bible studies for an interdenominational group he always was there to read over and check details and facts and to proofread spelling, but when it comes to fiction Mick doesn’t get to see my manuscript till it is a published book.
Then he was the first person I gave a copy to. It sat on his desk for a couple of weeks as he was wading his way through a thick tome from the library. Then one day I noticed, as we sat down for an afternoon read during afternoon tea, he had started my book.
I found it hard to concentrate on the book I was reading and not to want to keep asking, ’Where are you up to? What do you think?’
In the end I managed to leave it with him. Yesterday he took it up to the Drs with him to read and then later in the day he finished it. ‘I’ve finished your book. I found it thoroughly enjoyable,’ he said.
That means a lot to me for two reasons. Firstly because he is a big reader and I value his perspective. Secondly because it’s good to get another man’s perspective and response to the book. He is not the only man to have read it. I know another couple who both read it. ’You’ve got to read this book first so we can talk about it,’ his wife told him when he went to pick up the book he had been reading.
They always talk about what they are reading. In marriage it’s good to be able to talk about what we’re reading and our responses to the books. That often says as much about us as it does the books. So if you want something to talk about to keep the lines of communication open, talk about what you are reading.
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