If you are part of a creative couple and you both have creative ambitions and kids and extended families and pets and civic responsibilities, how are you going to make it all work? I mean, we don’t exactly live in a country that provides enough resources for everyone to express their deepest creative longings. If you are going to have a creative career, you’re going to have to build it and support it yourself.

So what makes creative partnerships work?

I’ve always wanted to write about creative couples. I’m an author/teacher/speaker and my husband is a teacher/director/producer and sometimes I wonder how normal our weekly workload is. For example, right now he’s mounting a production of “Guys & Dolls,” which means he’s working ten-eleven hours a day (and we haven’t even hit what we call “hell” week yet, which means he works day and night for about ten days).

I also work a lot of hours each week. It’s a little harder to add mine up because I often grab more time in the wee hours of the morning or on the weekend to add onto my usual 8:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. office hours. I typically get up early and work for an hour or two before my daughter gets up and then add a couple of hours on after she gets home while she decompresses or does her homework. All in all, I’d say I work about the same number of hours my husband does when he’s mounting a musical.

Keep in mind that I’m not merely writing. If I were only writing, I could work about half as much time but only after cutting out teaching, speaking, traveling, coaching, blogging, volunteer work, and social networking. And there’s no way I’d do that because I enjoy all of the other things I do. (Although when working on a book, I necessarily cut back a bit.)

Fortunately for us, we both enjoy our work. My husband puts up the best non-professional musicals I’ve ever seen with the help of some other really amazing professionals and an army of volunteers who work with the kids. And I’ve been fortunate to have steady, modest success in the things that I do.

So what makes it work? I think I’d have to say that mutual support is key to a happy partnership. I was the one who encouraged Jason to go back to school for theater. Some people think pursuing a career in the arts is impractical, but for people who are meant to work in the arts pursuing an advanced degree in the arts can be the most practical thing a person can possibly do. By adding a teaching degree on to a masters in Theater, my husband has balanced his creative talents with a reliable job.

And by combining writing with the other things that I do, I’m not sitting at home, idle, while my husband is having cue-to-cue rehearsal, tapping my foot and looking at the clock. I’m occupied with my own work. And there is no one I would rather share my latest successes or frustrations with than my husband, when he gets home after a long day at work.

How supportive are you of your partner’s creativity or creative career ambitions?

I’d love it if you’d comment here or write a post in your blog and link back. Thanks for sharing.

~Photo by Phil Gyford