Friday, July 23, 2010

if CrAzY please apply

ANNOUNCEMENT: If you have not signed up for my Linger Giveaway do so before you leave (the link is on my sidebar) I choose the winner Sunday! Good Luck!

Okay back to scheduled programming!

Lets lay it all out on the table... don't hold back, we all know that to be a writer you have to be a huge dose of CrAzY, the past couple of weeks I've seen some people asking themselves is they are a writer and I'm here to show you that you are!!!

You know you're a writer if...

--You talk to yourself throughout the day, the voices inside your head aren't because your crazy

--At any point throughout the day you feel like a (insert crazy term here)

--At parties, you check out the bookshelves the way other people snoop through medicine cabinets

--Instead of shopping for handbags you're at your local bookstore scoping out the latest arrivals

--When your favorite outfit is a pair of sweats

--Looking out the window is part of the job.

--You check your email twelve times an hour when you’re supposed to be working on your computer. No, actually it could be more than that.

--You’ve done everything you possibly can in life to avoid writing but still find yourself needing to

--Your friend tells you a heartbreaking story and your first reaction is – wow, that would make an incredible plot for a novel. You know you’re a smart writer if you manage to keep that reaction to yourself.

--You are wakened at 1:48 am, a character whispering (shouting perhaps?) in your ear, urging you, no, commanding you, to fire up your laptop, cup of tea in hand, and write the next chapter, in which she insists on taking you places you never intended to go!

--Everyone has told you that you’ll never get published and you keep writing.

56 comments:

Paigeewa said...

I once read some article or some quote by some famous person, but I can't remember which that said, "Writing is the socially acceptable form of schizophrenia."

I think that's good advice.

And I'm all about the getting told a heartbreaking story except it's more of me and my best friend talking about how our high school experience would make an awesome story.

Anne Gallagher said...

Thanks for this Jen. Very much appreciated.

Karen Baldwin said...

You know you're a writer if submission doesn't freak you out.

Vicki Rocho said...

I'm laughing! My favorite is scoping out bookshelves instead of the medicine cabinet. That is soooo me!

Thanks for the chuckle, looks like I'm a writer after all!

sarahjayne smythe said...

Awesome list because it's so very true. Thanks for reminding us. :)

Aubrie said...

Very true! ....Now back to my email...

Karen Jones Gowen said...

These are great! I love your lists, they're so succinct, funny and true!

Crystal Cook said...

Fabulous Jen! Just what I needed :) I always thought I was a big weirdo for loving the bookstore more than the shoe store, but I guess not :)

Unknown said...

Check, check, check, check.... Oh for goodness sakes. We really are all alike. Where are my sweats?

Lenny Lee said...

my friends say im crazy cause lots of times i just have to write stuff when they want me to go to a movie or at the arcade with them. its like you got a really big itch and you just gotta scratch it. but for sure i dont ever let it make me miss my baseball games.
...smiles from lenny

Diana Mieczan said...

hahhaha...That is GREAT!!! Looking out the window is a big part of my day...for sure!!! hahahah:)

Love this:) Thanks,sweetie:)

Happy Friday and now back to work...hahah:)

Muah

Sitting Behind Homeplate said...

And I always thought I was checking the books out because I'm anti-social!

Connie

Dianne K. Salerni said...

Oh boy, do I relate to the "heart-breaking story/that would make a good book" scenario! And, oops, there was one time I blurted it out -- what a look I got! I'll never do that again.
(I hope.)

Janet Johnson said...

Yup. That about describes it. :)

Amy Saia said...

These are so true! Being a writer is like having a social disease, or an addiction. And we don't care! That's right, we writers like it when the voices come to visit, haha. The worst is when you're in the middle of thinking through a scene or dialogue and someone comes up to bug you. We need a sign to hang around our neck that says, "Writing. Come back later."

Candyland said...

I talked to myself about this post. We decided everything you said is correct!!!

Creepy Query Girl said...

I love your list. I check all of the above, especially the one that doesn't let you sleep soundly unless you've finished that chapter. SO been there.

Sage Ravenwood said...

*Holds up hand* All the above.

I also talk about my character to people as if they were real. (Hugs)Indigo

Jillian said...

Great post, so true and it made me smile!!

Happy Friday

Christine Danek said...

Thanks for making me feel normal. I know can tell my kids why I'm talking to myself. This is so true.
Great post!

Charmaine Clancy said...

Funny and true. :-)

LMB said...

This is completely spot on!

Matthew MacNish said...

--At parties, you check out the bookshelves the way other people snoop through medicine cabinets.

That is effing hilarious, sounds like a good party.

Also, why do these feel so familiar? Oh yeah, because they're true.

Thanks Jen.

Christina Lee said...

It's like your living in my BRAIN! ;--) Hilarious--thx!

Jennifer Shirk said...

That list is great! Especially the party snooping. LOL I do that!

Stina said...

This is so true, and so going up on a future Cool Links Friday. :D

Meredith said...

I love this list! I snoop through people's bookshelves, too, though I try to be subtle about it. Yay for being a little bit crazy :)

Jaydee Morgan said...

Yep, looking out the window is a big part of it - and adds to the crazy. I'm convinced the words I want are just outside the pane, if only I could see them ;)

Laura S. said...

These are terrific, Jen! I especially love the third one. Whenever I go to someone's house, I immediately head towards the bookshelves (If there are any; if not, I feel very sad for them!). I can't seem to help it. It's like a magnetic pull. I have no control over the awesome power!

BALLET NEWS said...

thankyou ! Hope you have a great weekend

Rose Cooper said...

You know you're a writer when you can read this list and laugh because you know it's all true! You are so funny, Jen! I love this list and we should be so proud to be all kinds of crazy!

Unknown said...

Yep, that's me, in eleven sentences!

Ashley Stone said...

love it! Especially the one about the heartbreaking story... I'm not even a real writer and I do that!!! haha.

Joanne said...

With symptoms like these, we've definitely got the writing fever!

Talli Roland said...

Love the last one! So true! When you just can't stop writing despite all the odds... that's when you know. That, and the crazy voices inside your head.

Happy weekend!

Angie said...

Awesome, I feel like you've described me to a tee!

Jolene Perry said...

Good Ones.

My favorites are being awakened in the middle of the night and staring out the window. Good stuff.

Jennie Bailey said...

Jen, I can't even pick a favorite because they are ALL hilariously good! I can't stop laughing. I am guilty of checking out people's bookshelves! And my favorite outfit is pajamas! I actually got up at 3am with the idea for Wednesday Wishes - thank you body pillow!

... Paige said...

I read all that looking for the link to the Crazy Application. I didn't find it so does that mean I pass whatever weird test you had going on?

So ya gonna send it by email or what?

;^p

The Words Crafter said...

I qualify, woohoo for crazy! Shoes, clothes, bags...nah, GIMME SOME BOOKS! And I DO look on people's shelves. I ask strangers what they're reading, and I'm shy! Sweats, sweat shorts, t-shirts, bare feet-these are required dress code items, right? Generally, I think in two veins-anything people TELL me is good for a book. Anything people SHOW me is good for a scrapbook....do I need huggie jackets in my wardrobe?

Anonymous said...

Yes on all of them.

Reminds me of a dinner I went to last week, and I couldn't stop staring at the books on the shelves.

m. said...

haha. how excellent.

yes.

Lindsay said...

This list is so perfect.

Talk to my voices in my head? Check.

Look at other peoples bookshelves? Check.
Thanks for making me smile, as always. :)

DL Hammons said...

Guilty on all counts!!! Lock me up! :)

vic caswell said...

perfect! great list jen!
my best girlfriend was telling me about the latest creepy crap the ghost in her house has been up to, and i looked at her and said "you KNOW that's going in my book, don't you?" to which she laughed and said "I sort of guessed so." :)

Jemi Fraser said...

My dad always said, 'No one has more fun than us crazy people'. I've always agreed :)

Eva said...

Characters wake me up all the time! I have so many random notes that are barely legible next to my bed :)

Susan Fields said...

I love your list! I guess I really am a writer. :)

I'm so bad that I've started keeping my email account minimized at the bottom of the page so I can always see if there's a new email, I don't even have to check it anymore.

Leigh Hutchens Burch said...

I LOVE scoping out other peoples bookshelves at parties or whatever. That is a super fun passtime.

What a fun list! I think I also (unfortunately) relate to the one about avoidance...

HAPPY weekend, friend!

Kristin Rae said...

These are all great! I think I must be crazy! ;)

Jai Joshi said...

All so true.

Jai

Portia said...

Oh yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm crazy :-) Great list. I have to watch myself about the checking e-mail thing. It's too easy to procrastinate that way.

Theresa Milstein said...

Such a true list about writers! I'm on board for every one but the sweatpants. I save those for subbing gym.

I'm glad those voices in my head mean I'm a writer...

Kimberly Franklin said...

I couldn't agree with you more... on all of those thing you listed. I think you nailed it!

Shelley Sly said...

"...and your first reaction is – wow, that would make an incredible plot for a novel."

I'm so guilty of this. Not so much things that people have confided in me with, but things I overhear or things I read on Facebook, in the blog world, etc. I always want to make a story out of everything!

Slamdunk said...

Fun post.

Bookshelf inspections? Wow, that one hit me hard.