Howard and I were standing in the kitchen having one of our frequent meetings where we discuss tasks accomplished and tasks yet to do.
Me: So tomorrow and Wednesday are going to be focused on the bonus story rather than the buffer.
Howard: Yes.
Me: Okay.
Howard looks at me and I feel a need to justify my response.
Me: I’m just trying to figure out how to arrange my day to best support your efforts. (pause) Also I want to know what the shape of next week’s depression will be.
Howard, without even a pause for thought, says matter of factly: The depression will probably hit Thursday and it will be me stressing over the fact that I’ve lost a week of buffer and I haven’t even written scripts yet.
Me: Good to know.
One of the nice things about being married for this long and working together creatively for at least half of that time, we can now predict some of the inevitable emotional dips both his and mine. Then we plan around them. We can’t skip them but at least when it hits we be able to say “Ah yes, we knew this would happen.” Then we can just weather it knowing that the dip is not forever.
Working together creatively would be both cool and tough. Sounds like you guys have a great system.