Writer's move to their own beat and it's only through accepting their personal rhythm and embracing the call that they can feel ready to proudly say, "I AM WRITER, HEAR ME ROAR TYPE!"
No one can tell you you're a writer. Only YOU can make that claim.
But there are a few indicators that might help you realize your own truth...
1. You view everyone as a potential character. Inspiration is everywhere: in every conversation, in every moment you eavesdrop on, in the color of someone's hair or the texture of their skin, it is in every single person that has ever crossed your path ever in the entirety of your life. No one is safe from the workings of your imagination {though your job, as writer, is to make them feel safe even as you suck ideas from them like a vampire}.
2. You LOVE words and one of your great joys is manipulating them to provoke feelings in others. You mentally punch the sky in victory any time someone tells you they have laughed or cried or had nightmares or been inspired by anything you wrote because all you want is to move people with your WORDS!
3. You study nuances - so while the person you're speaking with may think you're deeply engrossed in the conversation, you're really memorizing the crinkle by their eyes and the way their lip catches on that one crooked tooth and how their hair moves when the door opens and that their jacket smells like Axe Body Spray.
4. You read. A lot. And you buy more books than you need. And when you're not buying books, you're dreaming about buying books and you think true happiness would be living in the library from Beauty & The Beast.
5. A trip to the bookstore is a bi-polar experience. While you feel completely at home among the shelves of beautiful tomes {amongst which you may or may not burst into the same song Belle sang in the village bookshop}, you also wish there was an entire shelf with your name on it and this causes you to jump back and forth between daydream euphoria and unequivocal self-doubt.
6. You ALWAYS read the author bio. Because why are they so special that they got published? How are they better than you? Or - more honestly - how are you better than them?
7. You are NEVER without a notebook. Because you never know when inspiration will strike and if you don't have immediate access to pen and paper you know you will surely die hating yourself for losing the very idea that would have thrust you into the beautifully blinding spotlight of success.
8. You proofread everything. Books, magazines, newspapers, blogs, signs, your children's homework, your own to-do lists... because you LOVE WORDS and the idea of them being abused makes you want to punch a wall {just as the idea that you might ever put your own mistakes into the public eye makes you long for a toilet to lean over}.
9. You have the kind of emotional capacity that others envy. You feel things more deeply and you experience the world with a wider heart. You know it's important to remember each phase of each feeling so you can someday express them perfectly through a character you probably haven't even created yet.
10. You have celebrity crushes. On writers. Because anyone who can spin words with such poetic genius... *swoon*
And a bonus...
You write! A writer writes! Being a writer doesn't mean you're getting paid or recognized. It doesn't mean your name fills the shelves of a prestigious bookstore or that people line up to let you scribble across the inside cover of a masterpiece. A writer writes! Own it! Be proud! And go write!
Do you write? Then you're a writer!
I can't wait to read your stuff!
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