Dieting Advice Parallels Writing Advice:“Get Another Wife, Live-in Lover, Roommate.”

Hmmm, maybe I do need a new husband.

In my friend Jim Frey’s excellent guide How to Write a Damn Good Novel, II, (start reading it here) he tells of a woman at one of his workshops who complained she didn’t have time to write:

I suggested she quit her job.

She smiled sheepishly and said she couldn’t do that. They had a big mortgage and her husband liked to travel, so they were making payments on a Winnebago. Her husband would kill her, she said, if she quit her job.

I said she should get another husband.

She blinked with astonishment. She said I was kidding, of course.

I was not kidding, I said. There are a lot of husbands out there—find one who will support your writing.

She walked away, muttering that I was a lunatic.

I may be, but that doesn’t change the facts. You can’t become a writer if you surround yourself with no-sayers. And if your spouse or live-in lover or roommate is not supporting you, you will have to change either their minds or your living arrangements.

Your ship won’t make much headway dragging an anchor.

How does Jim’s advice apply to dieting? If you need to ask….