In celebration of all sorts of Romaniac milestones, big and small, we thought we’d have a bit of a session on feeling like a real live writing person.
Seeing ourselves in Writers’ Forum in an article about online writers’ groups has gone completely to our heads, and now we’re starting to feel a bit more like the real deal. The hard part is actually saying the words out loud though. When asked what you do, the words ‘Oh, well…I’m a writer’ don’t trip off the tongue as easily as they might.
So to help us to stand up and be counted (and yourselves, if you have the same problem) here are some foolproof Romaniac ways of sorting out the men from the boys. And when you’ve finished reading them, please add your own to our list!
You know you’re a writer when:
Sue : Your children don’t bother asking what’s for tea anymore, they just help themselves to whatever is in the fridge.
Sue : You start having conversations with your characters.
Sue : Your children think the laptop is their new sibling.
Jan : You start proofreading a pizza delivery leaflet.
Jan : 2:00 a.m. becomes the new 10:00 p.m.
Jan: You overhear a juicy conversation and instantly think “there’s a book in that!”
Vanessa: You drool over new pens and notebooks in shops the way you used to drool over new shoes and handbags.
Vanessa: When you wake up excited in the middle of the night, it’s your notebook you reach for, not your husband, because you’ve had a BRILLIANT new story idea…
Vanessa: You make notes in the margins of your five year old’s reading books because there’s too much TELLING and not enough SHOWING.
Laura: I’m laughing so much at the moment because I do ALL of the above. You know you’re a writer when you watch your own operation because one day you might use the experience in a book.
Laura: The only word you can focus on in a very long text from your daughter is ‘definately’, then intent on correcting her spelling, you fail to answer her question, replying instead with, ‘BTW, it’s definitely. Mum x’
Celia: Your desk is your favourite place in the world, even when it’s a tip.
Celia: You look forward to the cat waking you up by vomiting copiously at silly o’clock because it gives you so much more writing time.
Celia: Your husband has to prize ‘Writers’ Forum’ magazine out of your hands before he switches off the light at night.
Catherine: Talking to yourself becomes the norm, because who else are you going to hold a board meeting with?
Catherine: You laugh out loud in public when you solve a plot problem. I tend to be on the bus when this happens.
Catherine: The most common question you get asked is: ‘Have you finished your book yet?’
Lucie: When a funny/embarrassing situation arises and your friends and family say, ‘that’ll be in Lucie’s next book!’
Lucie: When you no longer write in a text, ‘Ill cu l8r’ and it becomes, ‘I shall see you later on.’
Debbie: When you read a book from a writer’s perspective and not a reader’s.
Debbie: When you start reading up on Dylan Thomas and compare yourself!
Debbie: When the children only recognise the back of you (My eleven year old just saw this and thinks it’s funny!)
Over to you…
