This week: Things Only a Writer Gets! Edited by: Fyn  
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You should write because you love the shape of stories and sentences and the creation of different words on a page. Writing comes from reading, and reading is the finest teacher of how to write.~~Annie Proulx
I think the job of writing and literature is to encourage each one of us to believe that we're living in a story.~~Naomi Shihab Nye
Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.~~William Wordsworth
Everybody is talented because everybody who is human has something to express.~~Brenda Ueland
Let me live, love, and say it well in good sentences.~~Sylvia Plath
Exercise the writing muscle every day, even if it is only a letter, notes, a title list, a character sketch, a journal entry. Writers are like dancers, like athletes. Without that exercise, the muscles seize up.~~Jane Yolen
Writing well has everything to do with being able to read one's own work with an eye toward the unmet possibilities that are there.~Lucy Calkins
The scariest moment is just before you start.~~Stephen King
A man who tells secrets or stories must think of who is hearing or reading, for a story has as many versions as it has readers. Everyone takes what he wants or can from it and thus changes it to his measure. Some pick out parts and reject the rest, some strain the story through their mesh of prejudice, some paint it with their own delight. A story must have some points of contact with the reader to make him feel at home in it. Only then can he accept wonders.~~John Steinbeck
A synonym is a word you use when you can’t spell the other one.~~Baltasar Gracián
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We writers have quirks. We have our very own idiosyncrasies and often think we are the only ones weird enough to think/worry about them. Nope! For example, here's a list of what I've heard or read in just the last few days!
1. Some variation of 'Are you sure it is safe to Google stuff like that?
Research! It's important. It is important because that way authors don't make stupid mistakes like having someone mess with the choke on a car that doesn't have one, or which way the circular staircase in a specific castle wends its way upwards. (Some actually were in reverse because said lord was left-handed!)
For one of my books, I had no idea if certain ADHD meds could be fatally overdosed on. Checked out a bunch of drugs. Not being on any of them, I hadn't a clue. Aside from actually experiencing it, had to check out the facts of the matter.
Then there was the author who needed to know if bomb parts could be ordered online. (Yes.) And what all went into it. And no, no bombs were assembled in the process!
2. Is it safe to text a fellow writer about nefarious goings-on in the book you are working on?
I will never forget texting a friend that 'I did it! I finally killed off whatever-his-name-was!' She was driving at the time and her teenaged son was reading the text to her. Freaked him out even though she knew exactly what I was referring to!
3. Someone had just written several chapters and needed feedback NOW! They hit send and then fell into that bottomless rabbit hole of 'Maybe I shouldn't have sent it yet--maybe it isn't any good-- maybemaybemaybe!
4. Having conversations with other authors about specific characters as if they were real. (Wait. They are so too real!)
It can be really confusing to those nearby who don't know these 'people' are just characters. It can also be really amusing to those 'in the know!' But we do it all the time. Why? Because they are real to us.
5. Grieving when we need to kill off one of our darlings!
"I LOVED that character!!! But I had to kill her off. No two ways around it. She had to die. Sucks though..."
6. Writing the book was the easy part. Writing the blurb is a whole different thing.
Haven't met a writer yet who thought this was the easy part! We all stress over the too little/too much, the keeping it to x number words, or the 'does the hook grab 'em?
7. When we truly surprise ourselves.
That feeling when you know that paragraph, sentence, chapter is spot on and it stops you in your tracks. That feeling of, yup!, joy, that need to share, that inexplicable excitement that may lead to spontaneous dance, or loud
exclamations that reverberate off the walls.
8. Acting out scenarios.
Like the time my hubby and I, along with a cast iron fry pan with water in it, made a huge mess in the kitchen while we acted out a scene where someone needed to pick up a hot pan off the stove bare-handed and bash someone over the head with it! (No worries, no husbands were hurt in the process! Floor got mopped tho!) And then, being able to tell another author about it knowing that a) they'd get it, and b) they'd done something similar. Which led to #2 above!
9. Freaking out when being interrupted when writing one of 'those' scenes.
I now have a sign on my door that read 'Writing! Do not interrupt unless dead, dying or bleeding to death!' When my hubby bursts in to tell me about some cute kitten video when that scene is finally happening, when ALL involved are hot and heavy into it, and I'm into it, and BLAM! Bucket of ice cold water moment. Not good. Ever. He will never live that moment down!
10. Having full-blown, out-loud arguments with characters when they don't agree with me or I, them or they just decide to go off on their erry little way even though it completely messes up my plans! I've been known to have fights with my muse as well!
11. The King or Queen of Trivia!
I have (as do others I know) the biggest collection of odd and (typically) useless information rattling around in my brain. From the USA's eastern-most state (Alaska as parts of the Aleution Islands extend beyond the International Dateline, to the difference between a 'shellback and a golden sheelback, (shellback is one who crossed the equator, golden shell back is one who crosses the equator AND the International Dateline at the same time) to knowing what an aglet and a tittle are. (Plastic piece on your shoelace and the dot on a j or an i.) All sorts of minutia that one simply does not need in ordinary conversation.
12. Experiencing Vanishing Idea Syndrome.
You are juuuust falling asleep, or in the shower or possibly sound asleep in an amazing dream when it hits. That idea. THE IDEA. The perfect Solution, twist, or conundrum. Ok, I'll remember tht, you think. It's too perfect to forget.... hmmmm shoot--what WAS it. Dang.
So that's the short list of the weird and wonderful things we writers do. Someone once said (I have no clue who) that all writers are a bit crazy. I can agree with that. Hermit can't begin to describe me mid book. I hole up, expect my hubby to supply me with occasional coffee and food, (QUIETLY, of course) and will sleep, do dishes and (possibly) dust when the first go round is finished. Before the major edit phase takes hold. Mid-book, I leave for a short vacation tomorrow. Without my computer. ACK! I will have pens and a couple of notebooks because I know that that next chapter will come carreening at me by Friday. Help!
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foxtale  writes: What I have tried to remember to include in my writing came to me from my son. In his first year on a summer camp staff, my son was tasked with handling the snorkeling training at the lake. Each kid had to pass a swimming test. Then they had a "Beach School" session to learn about the equipment - mask, fins, safety inflatable vest, and snorkel. My son was advised of three basic learning styles - audio, tactile, and visual. Each kid was given a sheet of paper and a pencil for taking notes. Then the equipment was passed from kid to kid as my son gave them the information (Audio for kids that learn through hearing.) Then the equipment was passed along among the students (for those that learn by seeing, as well as those who learn by touching or handling the item). He was also told to inject humor, so he invented the Mom-grosser - spit into the mask, rub that around, then dunk in the water to rinse - the mask will not fog! For goggles, spit on your thumb and then rub on goggles and rinse.
He said that summer, the retention of knowledge was very high, with kids passing a verbal quiz every time!
Beholden  says: Writers are endlessly inventive when it comes to inventing reasons not to write. And, as this note demonstrates, such reasons are easily overcome.
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For Authors: August 13, 2025 Issue [#13291]
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