Each person has their strengths and interests. Me? I happen to be a writer. Here are a few of the most common signs that you are a writer.
1) Words are like a sunrise.
You know you're a writer when you hear a perfect sentence that awakens something in your soul. You instantly wish that you were the one to say what you heard. You wish that you could take credit for that literary perfection.
2) Words that you hear suddenly become plot lines.
Those sentences and such that I referred to above? Yeah, those suddenly cruise through your mind at warp speeds, shape-shifting into plots and characters whose lives have yet to be developed.
3) You connect to characters on an unhealthy psychological level.
So this may be true with more than just writers. But, most people who connect to characters, whether in novels, short stories, films, or any other work of literature, are in some way creative. I'll admit to my likely bias here, but it has been my experience that creative people are more emotional than not-as-creative people. But in my case at least, I have a problem. I connect to characters and plot lines on such a deep level that I'm pretty sure that it is unhealthy. I live in many worlds; the worlds of my fandoms and the worlds of my own personal creation. When something happens in a story world that I love, it is almost as if it happened to me. At the very least, you writers will understand what I mean.
4) Somewhere, you have a list of possible titles.
It may be in a notebook stuffed in your pillow case. It may be in your phone. Maybe you have it tattoo'd on your back. Regardless of where it is, you have a list of at least fifteen possible titles for some writing project that you are working on. More often than not, you are adding titles to that list instead of taking them away. What? A good title can lead to such an extraordinary writing session.
5) Your mind is always fantasizing.
Whether about a plot line or about your own life, your mind is always travelling to worlds beyond the scope of what we think our imaginations are capable of. It never ceases to amaze you just how many writing prompts you think about at the most random times.
6) You take long showers...for a reason.
You take exceptionally long showers because the shower is the place where the best ideas are born. Maybe the hot water opens up your creative vessels. I don't know, I'm not a scientist. What I do know is that writers mentally write entire novels in the shower, only for those ideas to slip away faster than a towel dries water droplets from your skin.
7) Having a notebook handy is a must.
If you are a writer, you always have something with you to record an idea that comes to your mind. A lot of writers prefer to plan on paper as opposed to a computer or phone, but in a moment's need, anything accessible is appreciated. From personal experience I can say that bringing something to the shower is a must if you hope to save your ideas... I'm guilty of using my phone in the shower... What? My case is "waterproof".
8) When you finally have time to write, you step into your happy place.
You know for sure that you're a writer when you can't wait to sit down and write. It may seem obvious, and I suppose it is. It isn't always easy to find time to write and it isn't even easy to write when you want to. But writing brings you to a place that just makes you happy. You slip into your own world and are lost to the environment around you.
I could go on and on about the signs that mean that someone is a writer, but that would take me so long that I wouldn't have time for any creative writing of my own! Even if you are not a writer, give it a shot! You never know. You could surprise yourself!
Happy Writing!
