Writers Category Archive
Sixth Sense
I think my critique partners have a sixth sense, every time I finish a round of either my own edits or critiques for another CP, one of them sends an email asking if I have time to read. We’re four months into the year and I’ve already had the pleasure of reading four fulls. Not too shabby.
There’s something to be said about finding critique partner’s who you bond with. Two years ago when the lovely Sophia pulled me into the writing community, I don’t think I ever dreamed I would form the relationships I have. I can literally hear my CPs voices in my head when I read their comments. They make me laugh out loud while editing and slap my forehead for missing the things they pick up on.
Writing- it’s a crazy ride and I am eternally grateful I’m not on it alone.
Do your critique partners have sixth senses? Can you hear their voices when you edit?
Too Many Questions?
Cale said this to me earlier today: Sometimes, you remind me of a small child. You ask too many open ended questions.
To my credit, we were at the pier watching fisherman bring in their catch of the day and watching the seals swim through the water, waiting for fish to accidentally fall overboard. I mean, there are a lot of open-ended questions to ask when you’re watching that.
But don’t you all think that it’s a requirement of a writer to ask all those questions?
I took a nap today and before I fell asleep I thought, What would happen if everybody was connected to someone else and could only die once that other person died. If you got sick or were injured you could survive because you were spiritually attached to someone else? Overpopulation of the world, that’s what would happen. But that’s not the point. The point is that we ask ourselves these weird questions, file them away, and write books answering them later.
And it’s totally okay! No one can say our questions are annoying because frankly, it’s just a consequence of our job.
Job Hazard Zone: too many questions.
My teachers in middle school were right after all, there are no such things as stupid questions, and even if there are, those stupid questions lead to really interesting answers, which lead to even more really interesting questions.
Moral of this post, it’s not possible to ask too many questions. Our curiosity drives our imaginations and surely that’s a good thing.
Because seriously, have you ever wondered if seals accidentally breath in water like people sometimes do when they’re swimming? Or why a Dogfish is called a Dogfish? I know I have!
The Writing Community
Sophia’s post has inspired me, particularly her comments about how welcoming and supportive the writing community is. I had written a first novel and knew writing was something I wanted to pursue and decided to take the leap into blogging and joining twitter. At some point in those months (I say that like I don’t remember the exact moment, which in fact I do. Here’s the blog post: The First Paragraph), Sophia commented on my post. It was a huge turning point for me, some random stranger had commented on my blog and ended up wanting to be critique partners.
I am not a naturally competitive person. I feel bad when sports teams lose, even when I’m cheering for a particular team. I love games but constantly wish everyone could tie. And I really dislike working really hard for something and still not winning or doing well, especially when there are other people I am competing against. Those reasons must be why I quit sports after 7th grade and joined choir and did musicals instead. I adore the writing community for some of these exact same reasons, everyone is so darn welcoming and supportive. Strangers comment on blog posts and offer what help then can. Big shot writers add you on twitter and offer advice. Some may give you harsh critiques, but I haven’t yet encountered anyone who tells others to quit writing entirely, they always say to keep learning and work hard.
How often do we have the chance to belong to a community as wonderful as this?
I am a Writer
I have thought many times to myself that I would like to be a writer someday. How ridiculous is that? I was just sitting on my porch eating dinner (scrambled eggs with cheese, and milk) when I thought, “you already are a writer!” At least 65% of what I think about during the day has something to do with writing. I could be putting words together, playing with plot, or pretending to actually be one of my characters and seeing where the story goes from there. There are numerous aspects to writing that I think about.
What I probably should think to myself is not that I would like to be a writer someday, but mostly that I hope to be published and am able to share my work with all of you out there. 
How awesome is it to know that I get to spend the rest of my life doing what I love the most? Whether or not I am ever published or make any money from this, at least I know that I am a writer and that is what I love best.
Happiness Tip: eat dinner outside (unless you live up North, than eat dinner looking out the window, haha), and let yourself think clearly about the very thing you love doing the most.