Nathan Bransford - The Forums

...your sister visits your blog and then calls you up and says, "Wait-- that's all it's about? Just writing?"

Um, yeah, sorry... No posts about designer shoes or purses today.

1.Everything else except writing feels like a burden to do

2.Everything else except writing bore you to death

(I know this is old, but I hope it gets read anyway)

marilyn peake wrote:You tell yourself you're going to quit writing ... you've had it, that's it, the final straw! Then you sit down the next day and calmly return to writing, as if you'd never had a single thought about quitting.

That's me a few months ago. I thought that thinking about being a writer was just vanity, delusion, my oversized ego fooling me. And the next day I was already thinking about new ideas for characters and stories.

It's great when you read things like these. Many times it seems that you're the only one with doubts, but then you come to forums like this and find that you were wrong.

You write emails with the structure of a short story, with a cliffhanger after each paragraph, so your "audience" keeps on reading.

I've actually been told to write shorter emails, instead of using "a literary style" to tell things. Now my first paragraph is always a quick summary, so people don't have to read until the end unless they want the details.

...what you do when you're not writing includes: reading about writing, reading, with attention to the writing, and hanging out in forums about writing (and playing with your new puppies who are keeping you human).

...you text in complete sentences, using proper punctuation and spelling. The rules of grammar must be obeyed!

You find yourself mentally narrating your life. E.g., "She turned the tap on, then relaxed as the cool water soothed the already blistering tip of her finger. She swore never to try to flip a grilled cheese sandwich with her bare hands again.", etc.

Then, you realize that what you just self-narrated was crap, and you pray that your actual writing is better.

Then, you self-narrate: "She hoped her writing was better than this... Thank goodness for critique groups." Etc.

Repeat.

I need HELP.

dios4vida wrote:...you text in complete sentences, using proper punctuation and spelling. The rules of grammar must be obeyed!

so glad i'm not the only one who does that!!!!

first, bcomet, your puppies are BEAUTIFUL!

second, i find inspiration in a lot of things, but i haven't had the dirty diaper experience.

third, i find myself narrating for particular characters, and somehow that gets the kinks out.

fourth, my red bull and coke is a littering of mt dew cans...

fifth, in reference to the songs, i got uber excited when i could finally use the visual i get from listening to muse's knights of cydonia. it was like i'd painted the Sistine Chapel.

you also know you're a writer when you get excited about something (see above) and NOBODY ELSE GETS IT except for your writer friends.

You know you're a writer when... you start wishing the characters in your books were real, cos they're soo much more cooler than real folks! :P

Ishta wrote:You find yourself mentally narrating your life. E.g., "She turned the tap on, then relaxed as the cool water soothed the already blistering tip of her finger. She swore never to try to flip a grilled cheese sandwich with her bare hands again.", etc.

Then, you realize that what you just self-narrated was crap, and you pray that your actual writing is better.

Then, you self-narrate: "She hoped her writing was better than this... Thank goodness for critique groups." Etc.

Repeat.

I need HELP.

HAHA! Been there, done that!

deepsesh wrote:You know you're a writer when... you start wishing the characters in your books were real, cos they're soo much more cooler than real folks! :P

This would be me, although I have to admit that almost all of them are. When I am not writing, I am thinking about it, regarding every situation as a potential situation for my characters, reading(lurking) in these forums, picking up one of the many books that I have cluttering up the bookshelf in my living room and critiquing it while I read. It amazes me how many typos get past editors! And yes, I even read simple Facebook posts and criticize the misspelled and misused words.