#WritersLife Tag // secrets! woes! grasshoppers!

Last month, Cait at Paper Fury tagged me for this lovely thing. Time to talk about the struggles and joys of a #writerslife!

WRITE FUEL: What do you eat/drink while writing? 

I will probably eat anything that is placed in front of me. Seriously. I am not a picky eater, and when I am in creative mode (or just reading a good book), I sometimes forget that food is a thing that is necessary for survival. My mother kindly saves me from a death of starvation or thirst, and brings me water, fruits, and occasionally lovely tea. What will I do when I move out of the house?

WRITE SOUNDS: What do you listen to while writing?

The sweet sound of silence. When I am listening to music, my brain says, "OH! This music is stupendous! Listen to the nuances! Listen to the instrumentals! Listen to the lyrics! Don't pay attention to anything other than the music!"

And thus I cannot be productive in anything other than silence. Coffee-shop chatter, though? That's totally fine.

WRITE VICE: What's your most debilitating distraction?

Oh, I have plenty. But my most debilitating one is probably plot bunnies and character ideas for new novels. I hop around from idea to idea like a spastic grasshopper.

WRITE HORROR: What's the worst thing that's ever happened to you while writing?

I... don't have a lot of bad things that have happened to me, luckily. No mysterious losses of writing. But the worst think is probably some horrific cases of writer's block I get, especially when it comes to plotting. My mother sometime finds me collapsed on the floor with a piece of paper and a pen, trying to scribble some kind of plot diagram and bemoaning wildly that I somehow made the younger son ten years older than the elder. (Note: I am not exaggerating. This is 100% true. Ask my mother, she will corroborate.)

But that just comes with the territory of being a writer. So, no, so far, nothing too bad.

WRITE JOY: What's the best thing that's ever happened while writing or how do you celebrate small victories?

Here are a few best things:

• I finished a NaNovel in 2012 for the first time. This was the first time I had actually finished a novel in general. So many tears and misspellings and magic.
• I wrote a flash fiction story two months ago -and it was actually good! I seem to never be able to write short stories of any kind. 
• I plotted 80% of a novel in a weekend (two weeks ago, actually). For those of you who don't know, I am possibly a contender for Worst Plotter Ever. My (rather excellent) characters wander around in a haze of uncertainty. So this is Very Momentous.

Here are ways I celebrate:

• Dance around the house.
• Express joy to my (kindly obliging) family members.
• Grin stupidly for the rest of the day.
• Plan my book signing events for when I am rich and famous and beloved by all.

WRITE CREW: Whom do you communicate with or not communicate with while writing?

I tweet a bit. I express my general woes (usually concerning plotting) to my (now not so obliging) family members. But that's basically it. I have no writing buddies of any kind.

(However, I now have a few friends in college who are writer-nerds and fangirls and with whom I can discuss my writerly plans. I'm even attempting to tempt one to join the madness of NaNoWriMo this year... and apparently I got her out of a two-year-long writer's block so she at least owes me an effort to try NaNo, right?)

WRITE SECRET: What's your writing secret to success or hidden flaw?

But for you, my lovelies, I will reveal ALL.

Here are my secrets to success:

• Carry a notebook around EVERYWHERE. Scribble plot twists, character inspiration, disjointed scenes. Draw maps. Sketch 
• Use your favorite writers as INSPIRATION. Not as comparisons. The instant you start comparing yourself to published authors (especially your favorites), you have condemned yourself to the Pit of Despair. 
• Eat a lot of chocolate. Good chocolate. Quality is key. You cannot get writer's block if you are filled with chocolate. This is a proven scientific fact and I know it because I am a pre med student and therefore knowledgeable about science and stuff. 

Here are my hidden (or not so hidden) flaws:

• My plots are CRAP and make no sense. 
• Sometimes they are entirely nonexistant. My poor characters!
• I have never written a novel that I want to edit. (Hopefully this NaNo will change this.)
• I hop, as I said, from plot bunny to plot bunny like a spastic grasshopper.

WRITE-SPIRATION: What always makes you productive?

Having a lot of homework. What is the correllation? I do not know. I always get super inspired when I have absolutely no time to write. 

Plot twist inspiration also help LOADS, obviously. But those are few and far between.

WRITE PEEVE: What's one thing writers do (or you do) that's annoying?

So I know I am very annoying when I bombard my mother with tales of my writerly woes regarding a certain WIP, and then suddenly the next month I'm telling her about my new shiny plot bunny.

"Don't you think you should finish some novel sometime?" she says, kindly, but obviously annoyed at my grasshopper tendencies. 

She has a point. 

WRITE WORDS: Share one sentence from a project, past or present.

I really really wish I could share something from my 80% plotted NaNovel 2015. But clearly that hasn't been written yet, so I will share something from NaNovel 2013, which I entirely pantsed, and then hid on December 1st. I rediscovered it a few weeks ago, and read it in all it's 50,000, unfinished glory. It's awful. But it's also wonderful, in an odd, messed up way. (It also has more sass and jokes than any of my other novels combined.)

I'm going to be a rebel, like Cait is, and share more than just ONE sentence. 

So that's that! Off I go on my spastic grasshopper to plot my NaNovel for next month!

Tell me about your writing life! Share a favorite sentence you've written recently (or two)(or three) in the comments! And whether or not you are one of the people below, feel free to do this tag!

Katie at Spiral Bound

Annie at Curious Wren

Skye at Ink Castles