I Need a Wife
by Karen Rani

Kyran of Notes to Self wrote me recently to make me aware of a post she wrote regarding the challenges of raising children while tending to her writing and poetry. Her creative time is prepared carefully with snacks, a captivating television show and while taking a picture of her kids and finding her oldest uncooperative, threats of:

"Do it," I said, darkly, "or no more television for the rest of your life."

I know Kyran's feeling all too well. There are times when I'm designing that the art comes easy, flowing, and suddenly I have a toddler on my lap, which is not condusive to delicate pixel art or html coding. As Kyran writes:

I refuse to buy into the tortured artist cliche, but there is no getting around the truth that making art is a process of delving deep, and there is a certain amount of compression that happens, depending on how long and to what depths you dive. It is jarring to have to resurface suddenly. I get the bends. I need a controlled, contained environment in which to gradually re-enter life.

Though I am sure Kyran loves her children with all her heart, I completely understand the need to go deep into one's creative soul and not be inturrupted, jarred back to reality by sibling squabbles or screaming for snacks. As I wrote this post, I was inturrupted at least 356 times. She, like me, needs a wife. Heh.

Kyran has a great sense of humour regarding the issue, saying:

At least they will not lack for material should any of them go into the family business.

Amen to that, Kyran. You said it.

Contributing Editor Karen Rani also blogs at Troll Baby, Motherless, and owns Troll Baby Graphics.

Submitted by Karen Rani (view blog) on Wed, 09/13/2006 - 4:56am
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Comments

 

Need a wife

Saw your post title in "posts of note" and burst out laughing...said that a million times! And the interrupted 365 times? At least!

And my kids are 13 and 15. I am beginning to believe there is no light at the end of the tunnel, except for the hours when they are in school or asleep, of course.

Thanks for the amen moment. Not creating art and only a little html...just trying to break the code and master the art of thinking under the influence {of constant distraction}.

Marianne

Marianne Richmond
resonancepartnership

Submitted by Marianne Richmond on Wed, 09/13/2006 - 09:11
 

On needing a wife

Everytime I find myself thinking "I need a wife" I try to mentally edit it to "I need a socialist feminist revolution, and a co-operative." That would be so much nicer!

-----------------
Liz Henry
lizzard@bookmaniac.net
Badgermama - personal & mommyblog
http://liz-henry.blogspot.com

Submitted by Liz Henry on Wed, 09/13/2006 - 11:59
 

Liz, you rock my world.

Elisa Camahort
BlogHer and Worker Bees
elisa@blogher.org/elisa@workerbees.biz

Submitted by Elisa Camahort on Wed, 09/13/2006 - 12:02
 

need a wife!

My husband and I have another saying when surveying the disaster that can be a home with kids and working parents - "we need to fire the maid"!

Linda
Musings of a Domestic Goddess

Submitted by Domestic Goddess on Wed, 09/13/2006 - 12:10
 

Spot on, Liz!

I stand corrected! :)
Karen

--
Troll Baby

Motherless

Troll Baby Graphics

Submitted by Karen Rani on Wed, 09/13/2006 - 16:50
 

Guilty :)

Liz, as a person raised on "Free to Be You and Me", I agree wholeheartedly that is what we should be aiming for...

...but could I just have a wife until the revolution? Hell, she could even be a he. What I need is someone with the logistical skills of a general and the patience of a saint.

Sigh. I know it's wrong, I do. Just, every now and then, I wish I *could* get away with being a chauvinist, egomaniacal, narcissistic writer in the grand old style.

;-) Kyran
Notes to Self

Submitted by kyranp on Wed, 09/13/2006 - 17:01
 

I do need a wife,

I do need a wife, hahahahhaha , I don't know if Im ready or not, I think I haven't find her yet, I thought I did but she's going to Africa right now, I hope she does well overthere.

Ciao ciao

Submitted by PabsCasta on Wed, 09/13/2006 - 21:58
 

A wifely alternative

I have a long time fantasy of renting or buying a space; a small cottage, apartment or studio, with a group of women where we could go to relax, create, read or just go to the bathrom alone.

Not what it seems

Submitted by neesie on Thu, 09/14/2006 - 03:48
 

now THAT's what I'm talkin bout

Oh, please PLEASE go to Singing Bird and check out the clipping from an ancient housekeeping article titled, "The Good Wife's Guide."

Here are a few gems:

"remember, catering for his comfort will provide you with immense personal satisfaction"

"arrange his pillow and offer to remove his shoes for him"

and my personal favorite,

"Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it."

Any applicants?

k.
Notes to Self

Submitted by kyranp on Thu, 09/14/2006 - 05:02
 

sometime I think

I need a feminist cooperative studio/organic food coop/wireless cafe two blocks away from my home,

...and a wife.

In the next two years I will probably have to make do with the wifi cafe and a cute friend who loves to cook in exchange for sticker patterns though.

;)

Miriam
Flink Design

Submitted by mir on Thu, 09/14/2006 - 05:24
 

Tofu-Powered Art-Chick If

Tofu-Powered Art-Chick
If you have kids and you are an artist, you have dust bunnies.
I have a 7 year-old (favorite art supplies: string, rubber bands, legos, twist-ties) and am adopting a 2 yr-old girl from China soon. Juggling being a mom with art is my daily struggle, and I started a blog to put MORE pressure on myself to create art weekly:
http://artweekly.blogspot.com
It will probably just be a small drawing some weeks, but my goal to keep it rolling, sippy cups, cub scouts and all.

Submitted by Maynardn on Wed, 09/27/2006 - 18:03
 

Need a wife, or just space and time

Art takes space and time, two luxuries most mothers have precious little of.
I tried explaining this to my husband once after he asked me why I don’t do my art anymore – when I got to the point about having to clean up my workspace every time I get a project started – he said OK OK I get it….

Submitted by Beckyliv on Sat, 09/30/2006 - 16:21