14 Things Only People Who Live To Write Understand
By Johanna Mort
1. You have playlists for each of your writing moods that you listen to whether or not you’re actually writing.
2. You don’t leave the house without your trusty notebook, because you can’t control when a creative epiphany will hit, and if you don’t write it down, and then forget, you know you’ll regret it for the rest of your days.
3. Getting the break-through idea while driving is the worst, because I need to write this down right now, but I’m five miles from the next exit! Gahhhh
4. …But driving’s also one of the best ways to clear your mind and think, so it’s a struggle you have to live with, I guess.
5. The main reason you venture outside to grab coffee or lunch is to eavesdrop on as many strangers as possible. Not to, you know, drink coffee.
6. You’ve spent days coming up with the perfect comeback to that rude person that you ran into at the store, not so that you can tell them off the next time you see them, but so you can include the interaction in a scene you’re working on.
7. You can simultaneously love and hate an author, because THEY’RE SO GREAT. I WANT TO READ THEIR WORDS FOREVER. BUT, DAMN THEM! HOW CAN I EVER WRITE SOMETHING THAT GOOD???
8. You’re constantly finding old notes to yourself that make little to no sense. “YA idea: High school Hamlet??”
9. Your least favorite people to be around are also your favorite, because they often make excellent antagonists for your writing.
10. There is no better feeling than penning the final sentence of a draft and just feeling done.
11. …That is, until you remember it’s time to start revising everything, and you have painful visions of the harrowing horrible weeks (months? Years?) to come.
12. You often catch yourself narrating your life in the third person. Johanna popped the bread into the toaster, and wondered if any zoos nearby had narwhals.
13. Choosing the name of a character is one of the most difficult decisions you make when starting a new story. In fact, you’ll probably end up changing their name four or five times before you find the one that sticks.
14. You’re never NOT writing. Even when you decide to take a break, anther idea will pop into your head, and there’s really nothing you can do to stop it.