I just started reading The Long Tail by Chris Anderson, and was struck by the second paragraph of the acknowledgments. Anderson expresses tremendous appreciation for the support of his family during the writing process (see below). I wondered while reading it if a woman with a family might ever hope to be able to write a similar acknowledgment, or is the writing/family balance simply "different for girls"?
Here's the extract from Anderson's acknowledgment:
"First, the person other than me who worked the hardest, my wife, Anne. No project like this could be done without a strong partner. Anne was all that and more. Her constant support and understanding made this possible, and the price was significant, from all the Sundays taking care of the kids while I worked at Starbucks to the lost evenings, absent vacations, nights out not taken, and other costs of an all-consuming project. But more than that, she was my sounding board, my first reader, my counsel, confidante, and an endless source of encouragement and advice. (Our young children … also spent a year without seeing much of their father, and I thank them for rising to the occasion with sterling behavior and, one hopes, no permanent scars.)
Well, the single parent version of "family balance" issues, if the link works, is here: http://www.amazon.com/Cold-War-Civil-Rights-Democracy/dp/0691095132/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246503907&sr=1-1#reader
(or go to p. 314 of Cold War Civil Rights). No one was happier when my first book was finished than my 2nd grader, who had been told many times that she couldn't have a sleep-over because of the book. But the 2nd book was dedicated to my then boyfriend (now husband) who did all the grocery shopping & most of the cooking, and even the kid-related carpooling, so I could work, and who read every draft chapter. It was still a colossal amount of work, but time two was easier!
Thanks for sharing that, Mary. I think it gives me hope – equal opportunity parental suffering and all that…