Oh, I'm a Writer?

Admittedly, some days it doesn't feel like it.

But then other days, I get tagged by the wonderful Abbie with a writerly tag and I remember that I am, indeed, a writer. ;-)

And just saying, the way that Abbie did it with snippets was awesome, so I shall endeavor to do it like that.

So I'm going to admit it right now... I made this edited...thing... and then AFTERWARDS realized that I had said BY Hannah Joy which is not true because I didn't make this tag. So I didn't want to reload Ribbet on my computer because man it is slow some days. So I whipped out paint and did a poor job at editing. I think it just proves my point. ;-) Okay, I'll stop poking fun at my own writerness now...maybe...

WRITE FUEL: WHAT DO YOU EAT/DRINK WHILE WRITING?

Well.... I drink tea. Chai, usually, occasionally Earl Grey or English Breakfast. Maybe Peppermint. I eat...well, I don't generally eat stuff, but then sometimes I just all of the suddenly get ravenously hungry so I go upstairs and raid the cupboard for any food that there might be. It usually ends up being cashews, crackers, or Craisins. 

David started back toward the cottage without responding. Marcus grabbed his shoes and hurried after him. “Is it lunchtime yet?”

“I’ll bring it out to you,” David muttered. 

WRITE SOUNDS: WHAT DO YOU LISTEN TO WHILE WRITING?

It depends on the day, really. Most days, I pull up YouTube and play one of my many playlists. They include a lot of artists, including but not limited to Sleeping At Last, Indelible Grace, Andrew Peterson, and Josh Garrels. Other days, I'm like, SO DISTRACTED MUST LISTEN TO MUSIC WITHOUT WORDS so I listen to classical and movie soundtracks. Though granted, I mostly listen to music to drown out other noise. I actually tune the music out for the most part and then suddenly I'm listening and I realize WHAT THIS IS MY FAVORITE SONG and I stop writing and listen to it. 

He waited. He held his breath and tried to cover all of the other noises in his head.

Silence. 

WRITE VICE: WHAT IS YOUR MOST DEBILITATING DISTRACTION?

 

I'm not going to lie, it's adoption blogs and/or adoption Instagrams. 

Honestly, I walked into the music store and wanted to clear the shelves for you! How hard it is not to get distracted in such a lovely place. I know you know what I’m talking about, because every way I turn in there I see you reflected back at me in the instruments.

WRITE HORROR: WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT'S EVER HAPPENED TO YOU WHILE WRITING?

So I'm not totally sure if this actually happened DURING writing, but it was probably the worst. 

I have this Purple Ninja flash drive that had these cute little spherical hands made of rubber. I have the tendency to chew on things while I try to work out my plot difficulties. So I happened to chew on the ninja until the hand popped off. 

That is not the worst part, guys.

Then that little, tiny, rubber, spherical thing got stuck in my keyboard. For weeks I labored under the problem of first not having a working W, then V, then S, then numbers that did not work, causing me to have to copy and paste those letters when I needed them. Finally, I got a little fed up, and I chased it, as best as I could, towards the top, hoping I could at least get it out of the way, if not get it OUT. 

Eventually said ninja hand made its way to my backspace button. 

I could not use my backspace button.

And then there came a day where I was really angry at something or other. I don't remember what it was. In a fit of rage, I tore off my backspace button and picked up the purple rubber hand and threw it, and then tried to slam the backspace button back on. It did not work. 

So I had no backspace button until I went to Goodwill and bought a keyboard to plug into my laptop. 

Cephas sputtered his lips in irritation. “Did you even listen to the prophecy?”

“It said nothing about books.”

Cephas took up one of the books, thankfully one of the thinner ones, and smacked Marcus over the head with it. “To think it had to be a shepherd boy! Always with thicker skulls than their calluses!” 

WRITE JOY: WHAT'S THE BEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED TO YOU WHILE WRITING, OR HOW DO YOU CELEBRATE SMALL VICTORIES?

The best thing that ever happened to me was probably finishing a book. That was pretty exciting until I despaired when I reread them. ;-) How I celebrate small victories... well, occasionally writing will be such a task that I will have to bribe myself. "If you write 300 words, then you can go and watch that funny video that your friend sent you. If you get to the next scene you can read a Pocket Princess comic. GIRL IF YOU GET A SENTENCE WRITTEN YOU CAN MAKE YOURSELF A CUP OF TEA. YOU CAN DO THIS, I BELIEVE IN YOU. JUST WRITE SOMETHING, ANYTHING." 

Cephas lowered his finger slowly, then said, in an entirely different, brighter tone, “I shall expect you at the palace tomorrow morning, early, so do yourself a favor and do not make too merry.” 

WRITE CREW: WHO DO YOU COMMUNICATE WITH OR NOT COMMUNICATE WITH WHILE WRITING?

Is this like... I am going to spend dedicated time writing for a month and thus cannot communicate with people, or like, I don't talk to you while I'm actually sitting at my computer typing in my book? *shrugs*

Anyway. I always talk to my sister. She's my writer friend. I run plots by her, spoil all of my books for her and her alone, ask for writing tips, commiserate about writing problems, and talk about the purpose of writing with her. So she's my go-to.

I also have a group of friends that started as my writing club, so I obviously talk to all of them while writing, though I never spoil stuff for them if I can help it. They are awesome.

“If you do, you could do something very helpful for me. Could you speak to the boy with the broken nose for me? He has not told me his name, therefore I refer to him as UA (Unidentified Acquaintance).”

Amber was startled. “Bones? You want me to talk to Bones?”

“I do not understand your request.”

“Whatever. What do you want me to talk to him about?” 

WRITE SECRET: WHAT'S YOUR WRITING SECRET TO SUCCESS OR HIDDEN FLAW?

Hidden flaw?

Getting all down on myself because I feel like I'm no good at writing.

Secret to success?

XD But really. If I were to write just to write, I would get nowhere, because there's nothing behind the story, no backbone, just funny quips and entertaining plots, nothing more. 

“It’s perfect,” Amber said breathlessly. “How…how do you do it?”

Elliot cocked an eyebrow and tried to hide the flush that came to his cheeks. “What do you mean?” he asked, picking up Lenny.

“Make words…do that.”

“Uh…rhyme? Well, I have Lenny to help out with that…”

“No, I mean…they just sound so perfect together. It’s…art.”

Elliot smiled a half smile and said, “Do you believe in God?”

Amber was a little taken aback. “Uh, yeah..?” she said uncertainly. “I guess…kind of.” She bit her lip and blushed.

“Well to explain how I write poetry, I’d have to start there,” Elliot said, then flipped on the switch to turn Lenny on. Lenny stretched as if he’d just awoken from a long sleep, then latched his metal claws onto the shoulder of Elliot’s jacket. “Once you’re ready to hear that answer, Amber, let me know.”

WRITE-SPIRATION: WHAT ALWAYS MAKES YOU PRODUCTIVE?

Bringing my book to God in prayer. That sounds weird, maybe, but it is SO important. I mean, God made me a writer. He obviously cares about my stories. He's the one who gave them to me. I don't have anything that I have not received from Him. So giving it back to Him always works back to the reason that I write, which makes me want to write, which makes me go and sit down at my computer and be productive.

The beast drew back in fear, but Luthar raised his staff, prayed in a loud voice for strength to defeat the darkness, and then brought the staff down hard on the ground. 

WRITE PEEVE: WHAT'S ONE THING WRITERS DO (OR YOU DO) THAT'S ANNOYING?

M'kay, I'm not going to lie, I kind of have a lot. Most of them have to do with proper grammar. But so that I avoid offending people, I shall not mention them. XD  But one thing that annoys me that I am VERY guilty of is.... not writing. Like, you're a writer. Write. Stop whining and do it.

It wasn’t that he didn’t like reading, but an adventure story would be more up his alley, rather than a boring nonfiction book on things that probably didn’t actually exist, according to the little bit of the introduction that he had retained. Why write an introduction that debunked the whole book? Marcus sighed and continued flipping through the pages. 

 WRITE WORDS: SHARE ONE SENTENCE FROM A PROJECT, PAST OR PRESENT.

*giggle* I totally just owned putting snippets in ALL OF THE QUESTIONS! It was fun finding things that sort of related but didn't totally. XD But because I'm nice, I'm going to write the last sentence that I wrote in one of my books.

There were obvious signs of life here, as a tattered cloak lay close to the fire.   

WOW THIS WAS REALLY FUN. WHOEVER WANTS TO SHOULD DO THIS. It's like, refreshing to take a step back and remember you're a writer.