Can't Stop Thinking

Hey guys!

It’s Tuesday. That feels a little weird. And I do feel a bit sad that I’ll only be writing in here twice a week for the foreseeable future, but you know, it means that I get to pour a lot more time and attention into the things that I’m sharing with you guys, and I think that’s really cool.

By the way, I’m still working on getting the RAD Writing podcast up and running, so if you guys have any topics you’d like us to cover or if you have some tips or tricks of the trade you’d like to share with me, feel free to drop a comment or send me a message. I’d absolutely love to hear from you!

This month, I thought we’d talk about something a little bit more fun, something unlike anything I’ve written in a while. I’ve been a little more focused on helping you out, this year, but you know, there’s always time for a little fun—don’t you think?

So, we’re going to talk about what it really means to be a writer. And by that I mean I’m going to talk to you about things that writers do, that aren’t really that glamorous, and that are sometimes more weird or annoying to others than anything else.

It’ll be fun though, I promise.

Do you know what we do?

Well, we never stop thinking about our plots.

No matter what we’re doing, where we’re going, or who we’re with, it’s something that never really leaves our minds. Ever.

Thing is, most people, normal people, wouldn’t know what that’s like. So we have to pretend we’re not thinking about it, that we’re thinking about lots of other little things, and nothing so huge as to decide the fate of one’s life. After all, characters aren’t just figments of our imaginations. They’re real, as long as we’re writing them, and often for many years after.

When we go to the store, we often imagine our characters, our friends, fighting their foe through circumstances small and large. We see grand palaces and barren wastelands, all while we’re walking to the produce section.

If only other people could see it.

I often find myself imagining the settings of my stories, while I’m out shopping. And then I see everyone else in the same setting. What part of the story will they play? Or are they only a background character, one who won’t even have a name within the text? Who is to say, but the writers of their stories! For many of them, that writer is not me. But for some, oh the glorious few, I will write them. I have the honor and the joy to create their character, to put them into this amazing world borne out of my imagination, and to allow them to live a life unlike any they’d ever dreamed.

That’s what makes a writer.

No matter the circumstances, no matter where we are or what we’re doing, we can create. It also makes us a lot of fun to hang out with, as long as you can break through the shell. Like I said, most people don’t understand the way we think, so we don’t often talk about it. And like I’ve talked about before, our ability to assess plot lines also gives us an uncanny ability to determine what the future will hold, based on information in the present. Lots of people don’t like that, so we don’t talk about it—but it can be of use to both of us, if you’ll get close enough to us that we feel safe enough to open up.

Sometimes it effects our moods, other times it simply makes us quiet and introspective, and still others it makes us want to run away and hide, if only to get these notions down on paper.

Whatever it is, it’s something we can’t stop doing—and something other people might not always understand. 

That, right there, is a writer. 

[love]

{Rani Divine}