You Might Be A Writer If...

You might want to be a writer if…

• Your dinner conversation is about your latest plot.
• Your characters are your best friends.
• You pitch to three agents who all want the completed manuscript–that you haven’t written yet.
• You insist all your family and friends read this draft, even though they’ve already read the last three drafts–so they can compare and tell you how much better it is.
• You have a quote for every occasion from the brilliant dialogue of your characters.
• You have a million story ideas until you sit down to write.
• You are working on your 27th draft and still don’t know how to fill in the middle
• You have 38 rejections and counting.
• The only people who understand you are others who want to be writers.
• One criticism wipes out a dozen praises.
• You measure time by the number of words you’ve written.
• Your favorite authors wrote “how to” book on writing.
• Your critique group members are on speed dial.
• You have a collection covering several years of the annual Writer’s Market.

You might be a writer if…

• You’ve moved your writing beyond most of the items above.
• Your motivation is money–and you are making some.
• You consistently spend a set amount of time writing or revising.
• You ignore rejection.
• You know when to listen and when to ignore criticism.
• You don’t allow anyone to cut the “bad scenes or dialogue” out of your story until you know why you wrote it that way.
• You search for the heart of your story in the good and the bad and the ugly of your writing.
• You don’t let anyone else define your writing or you as a writer.
• You are writing for that one person to whom what you write matters, and all the better if that one person multiplies.
• You stop talking about writing and do writing.