Because I'm a Writer

I haven't always been like this... I think. Maybe I had the characteristics and just never noticed. Maybe you have some of them too.

You might be a writer if...

You try to come up with the perfect word to describe the color of someone's eyes or hair.

You find yourself thinking about characters in books- whether your own or someone else's- and wonder what they're going to do next.

You edit everything you read.

You hear a cool new phrase in real life and wish you had an excuse to use it in your book.

You need an emotional high that comes from reading and writing, without it, you start realizing how dirty your house is and how much you don't want to spend your day cleaning it.

You think about publishers as often as you think about checking the mail.

You're still wondering if the next query letter you write will be even better than the last one you tried.

You wish there was a free service for writing the perfect synopsis- yes, all the different kinds... The 1 page, 2-3 pages version and the dreaded 10 page synopsis. Don't forget to make it riveting while you suck all the juice out of your story and end up with a concentrated piece that will capture the adoration of every editor and agent in the universe.

You love editing. You hate editing. (It's a love/hate relationship.)

You're still wondering if you should have had your character eat that for dinner.

You wish you could have eaten that for dinner.

You realize that one book will never be enough. Then two, three, four, and so on. That's when you realize you're in it for life; that you're never going to stop writing.


Does any of this seem normal to any of you? Oh, yeah. There's one more characteristic I forgot to mention. If you're a writer, there's a good chance you're a little crazy--in a good way. I gave up on sanity when I had my twins, so nothing lost there for me.