September 7, 2010

Learn to laugh!

All of us have heard the jokes and teasing remarks about how weird we writers are. If we're not careful it's easy for us (especially those of us who are female) to get sand under our feathers over family and friends who laugh at our sudden attacks of inspiration or emotion over fictional stories. We can very easily become insulted when they tell us we're weird.
Face it, guys: we ARE weird! Like it or not, we writers simply are not normal. Period. Just because something is normal for a writer does not mean it is normal for any other species of human. It's high time we just accept the fact.
Now, we have some options as to what we do with that fact. We can continue being insulted by remarks and jokes about how weird we are; we can try to convince our non-writer friends and family members that it is they, not we, who are abnormal; we can follow in the footsteps of Mr. Edgar Allen Poe and become morbid, suicidal drunks; or, we can step back, take a good look at just how weird we really are, and learn to accept it with grace and humor.
We are what we are. We can't do anything about it, and we can't change how 'normal' people see us, so why waste time and energy being insulted or angered by it?
Admit it: we're writers, we're weird, and we love it. It's time to shake the sand out of our feathers and learn to laugh at just how crazy we really are!
***
One of the ways that my personal case of writerhood manifests itself is all over the walls of my bedroom/office. I have a pad of sticky notes that I keep on the end table. If I need to suddenly write something down, I just jot it down on the Post-It pad and slap it to the wall for safe keeping until I need or want it. Then of course, I have the whiteboard hanging on the wall, for more organized visual storage of ideas. It currently contains the title list of the fantasy series I'm working on, as well as my current favorite quote and my current reading list. Not that I have anything against writing in a notebook. Indeed, I have several notebooks stashed in various purses, bags, jacket pockets, and locations around my room. It's just that I like having things on the wall, too, where I can see them and look them up at a moment's notice.
How about you? What are some of your laughable writer's quirks?

5 comments:

  1. I love to laugh at the fact that I'm a writer. =) I have notebooks everywhere -new ones, old school ones that are no longer being used. If I see a notebook that's not in use I'll snatch it up. :) I also carry a sizeable backpack around with anything a writer could possibly need. I bring it everywhere. =D

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  2. Oh, insanity is a running joke at one forum I'm in. And, as the flair says "Come to the Dark Side. We have cookies"

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  3. You forgot to mention that on your whiteboard you also have LoriAnn's bad guy's name. :0)
    Mind if I adopt your slap-the-sticky-note-on-the-wall idea? :0) I think that sounds like a great visual way for a timeline/ideas for a current story! :0)
    As for me, I like lots of space when I revise. So most of the time, I end up ignoring my desk, my office, or my desk chair and end up on the floor. :0)

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  4. Mary is my hero for many reasons, especially right now because she surprised me at my birthday--but specifically in the past few weeks because she saved my bad guy's name (which I had forgotten and Gala remembered) on her white board. Henrique! I will not forget you again!

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  5. Awww, you're too sweet, Trav. Honestly, surprising you for your b-day was, I think, as much a treat for me as it was for you! And yes, I do still have Henrique's name on my whiteboard, lest you forget and have another conniption.
    Happy Birthday!

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