Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you this week’s post, which is interactive in the sense that you can add to it. Trust me, I wrote this to see if I wasn’t the only weirdo strange person experiencing these things routinely.
Which ones apply to you?
01. Your head is brimming with ideas, and you’re perfectly comfortable with creating new worlds.
02. You like to watch people, and you usually have your notebook and a pen beside you. If they catch you staring, you return your attention to your coffee, and then go right back to watching them once their head turns.
03. One of your biggest frustrations happens when showering. A great idea or a eureka moment comes, but you still have to rinse the soap off of yourself. Damn.
04. Your notes only make sense if you’re the one reading them.
05. For you, getting attached to fictional characters is a perfectly normal occurrence. In fact, if you don’t get even slightly attached, that means the book isn’t too good, in your opinion.
06. You talk about your characters like they’re real people, and they are, to you.
07. When you get that stroke of inspiration, you literally bubble on the inside with excitement.
08. Occasionally, you feel totally blocked and flat. Which is perfectly normal, by the way. If you want a solution, here’s a daily one you can implement in only fifteen minutes.
09. You have a position on the planners vs. pantsers debate.
10. Somehow, seeing red marks on your manuscript is a sign of progress instead of a setback. Take about positive thinking!
11. Either you just begin writing with a rudimentary set of characters, or you plan them out in extreme detail.
12. The one sentence you’ve probably heard the most is, “Show, don’t tell.”
13. You probably own Stephen King’s On Writing, and/or Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird. Conversely, you may think they suck, and you prefer other forms of books. Typically the more practical and list-y ones.
14. Sometimes you boot up your laptop before anything else in the morning.
15. You probably have a thesaurus and dictionary, but you don’t use them much. The advice you always get is to write simply and directly. You may have gotten that from an Ogilvy and Mather directive. I did.
16. You read and/or subscribe to blogs like Write It Sideways, Write to Done, Make A Living Writing, or practically any blog that has write/writing in its name.
17. You see coffee as a best friend. Or, maybe not. Some people like tea or water, and I respect that.
18. More often than not, especially if you’re relatively young, you have a blog.
19. Weirdness is perfectly okay with you. In fact, you think it’s a good thing.
20. Sometimes, you consume yourself with the “What comes first? Character, or plot?” debate.
21. The feeling you get when you type The End is indescribable.
22. You are comfortable with writing super early in the morning, super late at night or at other also-strange hours.
23. You momentarily hate the people who interrupt you when you’re in the zone.
24. Sometimes, you love your bookshelf and your e-reader more than other people.
25. Your idea of a good day typically involves reading a bit, writing more than you assigned yourself, and maybe having a cup of good coffee.
26. Your list of must-haves isn’t really too expensive: a good pen, a notebook, somewhere to type, and a highlighter depending on preference.
27. Unlike most other readers, you actually take note of publishers.
28. Your idea of a spreadsheet involves a time and word count log, a guest post log or a schedule for projects from clients. You may or may not have a dossier on publishers and their submission requirements. Me? I have all five types.
29. You love how it feels when you say you’re a writer. I know I do.
30. If you’re traditionally published, your royalty statements get you hyped up. If you’re part of the indie revolution, you’re addicted to your Amazon and Smashwords sales stats.
Well, that’s all of them! Time to confess – which marks of writerhood apply to you? You can post them in the comments, or you can add more. Remember, this is an interactive post, and I love getting comments. Every blogger does, right?
All of the above.
Great list!
Hey, and thanks for the comment. I’m glad you liked the post, and the contents of the list – I thought today would be a good day to make fellow writers smile!
Bea, this list is funny and insightful. I relate to most of it. I’m not obsessed about book sales and spreadsheets though. Thanks for sharing this fabulous post. Enjoy the Journey, MG ❤
Hey there, my good friend! Thanks for this comment – glad you liked the post. As to the book sales and spreadsheets – differences always make the world a more interesting place!
I will add in another: Some of those peeps you observe while at the local cafe, shoot you dirty looks when you can’t pull your eyes away from their “unique quirks” that you just know are going to wind up as “unique quirks” for one of your upcoming characters.. Great post!
o.O, so true about the dirty looks. They look at me sometimes, and my head goes, “No, I’m not a stalker, I swear!”
Exactly!
Writerhood – another great word for my vocabulary. I answered yes to 22. Does that qualify me?
Qualified, definitely! Strange hours are such a norm among many writers. It’s what we do to fit in our passions with that funny thing I like to call ‘real life’.
22 definitely. 23. 29 always. 14. *looking sheepish* 1-7 all the time.
Hey there, Jon! Glad you gave me your numbers! (That sounded kinda strange, haha.) Thanks for the comment!
I can relate to almost all of those, especially the temporary hate one in No. 23. Can’t they see that I’m writing? The nerve of some people!
Yeah, to expand on this, two things usually happen to me. Usually I get called away because it’s time to eat, and I do go, but my head is furiously repeating ideas so I don’t lose them. If not that, I go for the “Can I have ten minutes?” request and wrap up my writing first.
I relate to: 1,2,4,5,6,7,8,12,13,14,15,16,18,19,21,22,23,24,25,26,29. That’s most of them then
But me and organisation doesn’t match. It ought to, and there have been many attempts to do otherwise, but no way is there going to ever be an organised author under the name of Heidi Street. And I know the feeling of accomplishment when you tell someone you are a writer, as well as the glares in the coffee shop. Another excellent post, keep up the good work 