8 Things I Love About Being a Writer (And 2 I don't)

It's that time of year again, the winter break from school. This basically means that once all the gifts are distributed and opened, I'm writing every day as much as I possibly can before my eyeballs glaze and the words blur. So it's getting late here and I'm looking over today's crop of word widgets that took up space in the current WIP and I'm feeling kinda grateful. 

Here are 8 things I love about being a writer (and 2 I don't.)

1. The new idea. When it just springs on you out of nowhere. Jotting the notes, saving that pure first thought with no idea or care, yet, as to just how you might execute it. The excitement of something new.

2. The flow. When time stops existing because you are in the thick of your own story. Very similar to reading for me, the words pour out of you without too much prying.

3. The plan. I'm a biwriter, half planner half pantser. My plans are rough and yet calculated around the main plot points. Now getting from point A to point B, pure pantser. Making that road map is one of my favorite things about writing.

4. The daydream. I'll admit it, I daydream about one day selling big numbers of books to readers who love my work. It's a fun dream, like thinking about all the things I would do for my family if I every won the Powerball.

5. The conference. I once compared attending a writers conference to a lost soul finally finding its tribe. We all manage in our day to day worlds, but when we gather at conference time, our peoples come together and raise the freak flag. I never feel so much like I truly belong somewhere as I do when I'm surrounded by other writers.

6. The know. When I read a book or watch a movie, and I see what the writer is doing beneath the story. Even better, when I think I'm being a smartie and they fool me! 

7. The time to. This is right now. No work for two weeks and every day my only job is to write this book. I like to pretend it's always this way.

8. The growth. When words pile up in my WIP. They are so measurable, we had 39,987, we now have 42,659. At the end of a session or a day, I can actually measure my productivity--this makes me very happy for some reason.

Now, the 2 things I don't like.

1. The wait. Lord help me, I hate to wait and there is nothing in publishing that is not about waiting.

2. The rejections. I've learned to take them in stride, but I still don't like taking them. Hey, I know what, how bout all you editors just say yes then we'll hold us one of those auctions. That would be so much nicer, don't you think?