by Marilyn M.
Member since:
February 14, 2007

You Know You're a Writer When...

November 02, 2007 12:32 AM EDT
views: 84 | comments: 93

You Know You're a Writer When...

by Marilyn Mackenzie

 

 

Finish this sentence:  You know you're a writer when...

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Comments: 93

Marilyn M. Nov 2, 2007, 12:33am EDT
you get so involved with your fictional characters, that you add them to your prayer list.
Marilyn M. Nov 2, 2007, 12:34am EDT
that you get so involved with writing that you're still in you pj's at dinner time.
Keva B. Nov 2, 2007, 12:35am EDT
you write stories in your dreams
Lola l. Nov 2, 2007, 12:36am EDT
When you are sitting down to write in your journal and you end up with 40 or more pages
Keva B. Nov 2, 2007, 12:36am EDT
you keep a notebook with you everywhere ou go to write ideas you've got throughout the day
Theresa Chaze Nov 2, 2007, 12:37am EDT
when it is 3 am and you have to get up at 9am and you keep writing because you are in the groove.
Marilyn M. Nov 2, 2007, 12:39am EDT
and when if your forget to bring a notebook, you write on paper napkins, deposit slips, cash register receipts.
Veronique AKA Zoe Nov 2, 2007, 12:41am EDT
when you always have a story in your head
Veronique AKA Zoe Nov 2, 2007, 12:41am EDT
when you start writing a back story in your head about complete strangers
Veronique AKA Zoe Nov 2, 2007, 12:42am EDT
when your emails are 8 pages long
Veronique AKA Zoe Nov 2, 2007, 12:43am EDT
when you keep wanting to edit what you've already said
you send yourself emails regarding ideas, and have a separate email just for it
Marilyn M. Nov 2, 2007, 12:56am EDT
something happens to a neighbor and you think, "I could write a story about that."
Marilyn M. Nov 2, 2007, 12:58am EDT
or your family is afraid to tell you anything for fear you'll write about it.
Dena Straughn Nov 2, 2007, 1:20am EDT
You find yourself studying people in restaurants for characters in your upcoming work.
Dena Straughn Nov 2, 2007, 1:21am EDT
Your friends start saying things like, you should write a book about this.
Dena Straughn Nov 2, 2007, 1:22am EDT
Your characters start becoming better company than some friends, and dare I say, family (extended).
Dena Straughn Nov 2, 2007, 1:22am EDT
You read novels, and think, no, they should have written this or that instead.
Dena Straughn Nov 2, 2007, 1:23am EDT
You edit everything, even other people's work.
Dena Straughn Nov 2, 2007, 1:24am EDT
You have no idea what time of day it is, or for that matter, what day it is, because you have been so involved in writing.
Dena Straughn Nov 2, 2007, 1:26am EDT
People preclude what they say with, now, don't write this in a book, but . . .
Dena Straughn Nov 2, 2007, 1:27am EDT
Even when you leave the house, you go to the bookstores and cafe's with your laptop to write.
Dena Straughn Nov 2, 2007, 1:27am EDT
Your family starts complaining that you love your computer more than them.
Dena Straughn Nov 2, 2007, 1:28am EDT
You are sleep deprived.
Dena Straughn Nov 2, 2007, 1:28am EDT
Good idea Marilyn.
Nicole*sugarbear* P. Nov 2, 2007, 1:40am EDT
when your ex husband says you have to be an artist youre too eccentric to be anything else LOL
Nicole*sugarbear* P. Nov 2, 2007, 1:41am EDT
when your boyfriend stated he is a computer widower
Nicole*sugarbear* P. Nov 2, 2007, 1:42am EDT
your publish 17 times in 15 months on the editorial page of local paper
Marilyn M. Nov 2, 2007, 2:14am EDT
your family waits in the car while you type one more word, sentence, paragraph...
Dena Straughn Nov 2, 2007, 3:43am EDT
The white on the letters on your keyboard of the laptop that you have only had two months has worn off.
Dee - Nature Babe! Nov 2, 2007, 5:14am EDT
Really good ones above!

when your idea page has 5 coffee rings on it.
Dee - Nature Babe! Nov 2, 2007, 5:16am EDT
when the idea cards, index cards, are all over the house and no one else knows what they are for or what the words mean.
Lydia (part of the solution) Shelley Nov 2, 2007, 6:14am EDT
You jump out of bed in the morning to get back to writing
David B. Nov 2, 2007, 6:18am EDT
When you're working out rhyme and metre in the midst of your grief and despair.
Donna Hammett-Tooker Nov 2, 2007, 6:38am EDT
... when you think about things from your POV as well as the characters' POVs without even thinking about it.
Mark M. Nov 2, 2007, 6:53am EDT
When words start being poured right through you!

You're not the water,
nor are you the source;
merely the water's course!

Thanks for this prompt Marillyn!
Ashley B. Nov 2, 2007, 7:51am EDT
when you have to find time to sit and write just so you can think of something else than the story that's playing in your head.
Shekinah C. Nov 2, 2007, 8:19am EDT
When your waking moments your developing stories in your head all the time.
Roger Kiser Nov 2, 2007, 8:27am EDT
When you made the reader taste the apple rather than see it.
Shekinah C. Nov 2, 2007, 8:36am EDT
When your husband tells lets you know you tell stories out loud while sleeping in such detail that you should get published.
Amy D. Nov 2, 2007, 9:17am EDT
When you realize you have gone without food all day, surviving only on coffee because stopping to prepare food would have interrupted the flow
Amy D. Nov 2, 2007, 9:17am EDT
the first on about the prayer list cracked me up.
F. Jeanette c. Nov 2, 2007, 9:21am EDT
Marilyn, everyone has just mentioned my life. Except once I caught myself thinking maybe my character should kiss the way my husband kisses me. 10
Angela A. Nov 2, 2007, 9:53am EDT
You know your a writer when you can not stand rejection and get physically sick when your story is done and you try to send it off and it goes in to that out box at the post office.
K S. Nov 2, 2007, 10:08am EDT
you know you are a writer when you think: I can't believe people would be willing to pay me to write .... and realize that is the thing that you love to do the most .... :o)
Marilyn M. Nov 2, 2007, 10:28am EDT
you really could paper the wall with rejection slips, but you don't care! 'Cause sometimes they say yes and that's the best feeling.
Marilyn M. Nov 2, 2007, 10:29am EDT
you get a SASE back and wait to open it when no one is around, wondering, anticipating whether it's good news or bad.
Cheryl R. Nov 2, 2007, 12:12pm EDT
When you keep writing in spite of rejection, in fact, sometimes, in spite of yourself.
Marilyn M. Nov 2, 2007, 12:17pm EDT
writing is just as natural as breathing!

Amy...writer's knob. Yes. Used to have an aching hand, now I have a bump from where my hand rubs the mouse pad. But who cares!
Marilyn M. Nov 2, 2007, 12:18pm EDT
Someone asks, "why do you write?" And you answer, "why do your breathe?"
Charlotte Babb Maven-Fairy Godmother Nov 2, 2007, 1:19pm EDT
you are proofing your work and get caught up in the story as if you had never seen it before
Marilyn M. Nov 2, 2007, 1:27pm EDT
Yes, Charlotte! Or...when you read something you wrote last month or last year and think, "Wow, that's good." Then you wonder why you're not already famous.
Cheryl W. Nov 2, 2007, 2:11pm EDT
when you can't imagine doing anything else...
Bethany C. Nov 2, 2007, 3:09pm EDT
Your brokenhearted neice is in the middle of pouring out her troubles and woes and you ask brightly, "Can I use this in a story?"
Bethany C. Nov 2, 2007, 3:11pm EDT
Or you are sitting in the doctor's office trying to decide how you would describe the furniture if you wrote a scene there.
Marilyn M. Nov 2, 2007, 3:27pm EDT
Hey folks, if you haven't read Amy George's poem she mentioned above, be sure you do! Here's the link: What Makes Me a Writer
Marilyn M. Nov 2, 2007, 3:28pm EDT
Or, Bethany...you're sitting at the doctor's office scribbling in your notebook and are almost disappointed when they finally call your name. (Even though you've been sitting there waiting for an hour!)
Sarah (I want points) Nov 2, 2007, 6:50pm EDT
You wake up and all you can tink about is writing!
Marilyn M. Nov 2, 2007, 7:58pm EDT
Yes, Allison! You become a great "paper basketball player" while learning the craft. :)
Scott Wittenburg Nov 2, 2007, 10:17pm EDT
When someone asks you what you've been up to and your answer is always "writing my next novel."
WS R. Nov 2, 2007, 10:29pm EDT
when you have at least four notebooks lying around with various scenes from the book you've been working on.
WS R. Nov 2, 2007, 10:29pm EDT
when you find yourself studying the notebooks and pens with the same concentration you used to give to shopping for clothing.
WS R. Nov 2, 2007, 10:30pm EDT
when you don't hear your husband or kids talking to you because you're too busy making your characters talk to each other.
Jan C. Nov 3, 2007, 12:53am EDT
I love it! I was afraid I was the only one who wrote ideas on scraps when I forgot my journal/book ... and I love writing in restaurants. And many people do become my characters.

I felt quite honored when I told someone that I really love writing in restaurants/cafes and they answered well that's where JK Rowling writes!
Sandi K. Nov 3, 2007, 11:02am EDT
when you carry on conversations you're going to put in your story, and nobody is around.
Jim W. Nov 3, 2007, 11:42am EDT
... when you sit down to simply jot down the latest scene, dialog, or story twist that just came to mind before you can forget those excellent phrases you want to describe it, and when you look up from the paper or keyboard you find it's 6 1/2 hours later, at 2:00 AM and you have to get up in 4 hours to go to work.
Jim W. Nov 3, 2007, 11:42am EDT
An EXCELLENT prompt, Marilyn! Keep writing!
Karen T. Nov 3, 2007, 12:25pm EDT
Amy -- I really related to this verse of your poem:

I am a writer because phrases
wake me up in the middle of the night,
shaking me, not letting me rest,
until I release them on a page.

In fact, I hung several hooks over my bed and I hang notebooks on them so I can write things down without getting out of my comfy bed. I use a loop of ribbon to hang the notebooks on the hooks, and I clip a pen and a cheap booklight to each one so I can write things down without having to look for pens or turn on the big light and disturb my husband (he's ten times the writer I am - see www.spindlebook.com - so I want his comedy-writing neurons to get their sleep!)
Marilyn M. Nov 3, 2007, 3:08pm EDT
Karen, that's an excellent idea! I love it. Amy's poem speaks to most of us, I think.

I posted a poem about writing way back when I started posting. Breakfast of Champions
Lani B. Nov 3, 2007, 8:57pm EDT
You know you're a writer when your characters take over your plot and you can no longer control THEIR thoughts, THEIR actions and the words spewing out of THEIR mouths. Think EXORCIST here. Some of my closest friends don't know I published, because I'm too... embarrassed. How horrible is that!?
Marilyn M. Nov 4, 2007, 12:04am EDT
Awww Lani.
Marilyn M. Nov 4, 2007, 12:13am EDT
...you write 6 pages while you sit in the airport terminal waiting for your plane to be called, then 6 more while you're in flight. And you're almost sorry when you have to interrupt the flow to get your bags and grab a cab.
Swimming With The Tide O. Nov 4, 2007, 12:21am EDT
...the linen napkin from the restaurant where you had a dinner date last evening is now scribbled full of ideas about a particular problematic character and now doing double duty spread across your desk as notes as well as crumb catcher.
LaRue B. Nov 6, 2007, 8:31am EST
When your husband decides it's ok for you to sit at your computer all day.
Dave J. Nov 6, 2007, 9:26am EST
You look forward to going to the doctors because it means you will have an hour of writing time in his lobby..LOL
Marilyn M. Nov 8, 2007, 1:03pm EST
Yes, Dave. Been there. :)
Donna Hammett-Tooker Nov 9, 2007, 3:00pm EST
I knew I was a writer when at 13 I wrote a poem and the teacher sent it in to an anthology who in turn sent me a copy of the anthology and a certificate saying I was a part of the writer's community. Nothing ever gave me that much joy in my young life and I repeated the honor in the high school division only four years later. That was announced and the copy given to me on Awards Day at my high school along with a certificate from the school. Over the years the money was never there but the pleasure was always the joy - seeing my name in print. The only other thing to give me that much pleasure was when I signed that name to my marriage license.
Marilyn M. Nov 9, 2007, 3:14pm EST
Excellent, Donna. You know...I think more teachers should encourage young people to submit their writings for publication. I know having my first poem published in a magazine when I was a sr. in high school helped me keep going. You're right. Seeing your name in print is a real joy.
Leah A. Nov 9, 2007, 5:19pm EST
a character in one of your stories dies, and you cry about it.
Leah A. Nov 9, 2007, 5:21pm EST
you tell your boyfriend/girlfriend,"I wish you would be more like (someone's name)." and the person you named is a character in one of your stories.

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