I've been writing creatively since about 6th grade. I used to just sit down and write random stories when I was bored all the time. I even took a stab at writing a book for a few years, and no, I haven't finished it. I'm kind of afraid to go back to it because holy wowza will it need some work. It got to the point where I realized I was writing all. the. time. so now I am an English major with an emphasis in creative writing and I couldn't be happier--my writing classes are some of the best classes I've ever taken in my life. Anyway. I'm primarily a prose (fiction) writer so some of these things may not be for all writers, but I will try my best. Here are some things that will tell you you're a writer:

1. Starting a new story or poem is one of the most daunting things ever. That blank page, man? That's scary. It just sits there mocking you because you haven't written anything yet. Help.

2. Then when you finally get a flow of coherent thoughts in your head, it's difficult to contain the excitement and the speed of your typing fingers in order get it down in an effective way. This is a big deal, okay?

3. You usually find yourself trying to think of the best description possible for a particular object or scene that you find yourself in when you're really bored. It's your job to paint a picture in the reader's mind. Don't use clichés. Anything but clichés. Please.

4. You have definitely rewritten endings to books and movies in your head that you didn't like, because you could. And you're much happier with the ending you created anyway. The original author or screenwriter was wrong. Obviously.

5. You're always trying to think of a better description word or words because normal everyday words just won't work. Was the red wheelbarrow wet? No, it was "glazed with rain" of course, as good ol' William Carlos Williams would say.

6. Writer's block is the most infuriating and defeating feeling in the world. Staring directly at your computer screen or your pad of paper and absolutely nothing is coming to you. I've been stuck with this book for about three years, so don't worry. I. feel. your. pain.

7. Then you get epiphanies to further the piece you're working on at the absolute weirdest and most random times and you have to drop everything you're doing to write notes to yourself somewhere. It just suddenly hits you in the face out of nowhere, but it's the most gloriously rewarding feeling ever. You can finally continue with what you're working on.

8. Sometimes you find yourself re-writing how bad situations in your life could turn out to be good memories, because you want some form of reality to work out the way you had wanted it to. Uh, let me just rewrite that conversation real quick... Much better.

9. If you write while listening to music, you probably have to put the same song on repeat because you need to have the same feel for the entire time you're writing otherwise the mood fluctuates in your writing too much. One minute my characters could be getting married and then they could almost die a couple pages later. You never know. Gotta keep it constant.

10. And then you have to essentially pick a theme song for your piece as a whole or specific scenes in your piece and it makes all the difference. There was a time that "Say Something" was my anthem for really sad and emotional scenes. Ugh, those feels. Trust.

11. You know poetry lets you express those deep and complex thoughts that are usually bouncing around in your mind. Life is crazy. It doesn't always make sense and you need a way to express these feelings in some coherent way or it'll drive you crazy.

12. And then poetically writing them down makes them even more intense and it kind of blows your mind a little bit. Embrace your inner Dickinson--it's there somewhere.

13. You've definitely gotten out of bed at some ungodly hour of the evening to write these thoughts that are bouncing in your head, because you know writing them is one of the only ways to truly sort them out and let your mind settle down. For me that's usually anywhere between 1:00am and 3:00am if I'm being real. I don't need sleep, whatever.

14. You are very specific about the types of settings in which you can write effectively. Writing in public places that make you feel somewhat secluded are the absolute best for me. So that's sitting somewhere on campus outside in the sun where a decent amount of people will walk past (the quad for my K College people) or in a coffee shop. Yes, I'm sitting in a coffee shop writing this right now.

15. Part of you always wishes that you lived in a perfect world where you could just sit somewhere, drink coffee and write. The promised land. I'm tellin' you. It'll happen I swear...

Truth is, writing is just one of the best forms of expression you've ever come across. You live it. You breathe it. Almost everything you encounter involves language to some extent, and you're the person that can take it and make it incredible.

And to close out this piece with a quote from one of the best writers himself:

"And as imagination bodies forth
The forms of things unknown, the poet’s pen
Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing
A local habitation and a name."

-- William Shakespeare