You Know You’re a Writer When . . .

 

Last night I was stressed and overwhelmed from a long week. So I simply picked up my Thesaurus and sat down to read it. True story.

So, I’m a writer. Does that mean I’m any different from the rest of you? Here I have listed the habits and trademarks I’ve noticed most writers possess. Of course, all writers are different, but the majority of us do some of these things. At least I do . . .

So let’s get on with it. You know you’re a writer when . . .

You see someone that looks exactly like one of your characters . . . and you can’t help but stare.

Seriously, this happens ALL THE TIME! I was at a football game and I saw a young red haired fellow who looked just like my character, Jack. Of course I had to introduce myself, and I came to find out HIS NAME WAS JACK, TOO! How crazy is that?

 

 

Every conversation becomes writing material.

If I have a funny, cute, or remotely interesting conversation with someone, there’s a pretty good chance it’ll be used in one of my books or a blog post. I get a lot of my writing inspiration from conversations and relationships in my real life. In fact, this blog post here was based off of a conversation I had with a friend recently.

 

 

You cancel on your friends simply because you want to stay home to write.

I wouldn’t say I’m super guilty of this one because (unlike a lot of writers) I’m an extrovert and I like getting out and experiencing inspiration first hand. But when I have an afternoon or evening of writing planned, it might take a lot for me to decide to change my plans.

 

Writing is your therapy.

Of this I am guilty. Writing is my way of destressing. I take any sort of negative or sad emotions and pour that energy into my work.

 

 

You talk about your characters as if they’re real people.

I’m sure it drives my friends and family crazy when I talk about Scarlett and Kolton and their relationship as if they were real people. But when you create characters, they kind of have to be real to you or they won’t seem as realistic in your writing. You have to know them as well as you know yourself.

 

You’ve worn a wrist brace because you’ve had carpel tunnel from typing 24/7.

 

 

And finally,

You can’t sleep at night.

Because that’s when you get all your best ideas, of course. If you’re in the middle of writing a really good scene, and you’re on a role, you can’t simply stop to go to bed. You can’t just turn the creativity on and off like a tap! And the worst is when you are just about to fall asleep and you have a great idea and you know that if you fall asleep you’ll forget that idea. So you have to get up, grab a notebook, and write it down. And so the cycle continues.

 

Well, now that I’ve given away all my secrets, let me know if any of you can relate!

I hope your week is off to a great start! Happy Monday!

 

Love,

Gabriella

 

 

 

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