What Makes Me Feel Like a Writer

1. I always carry my journal with me, so that I can jot down interesting things that I see or hear in my neighborhood, on the train, at school, at the gym, etc.

2. I'd rather write than go to a ball game or a party. On the other hand, I'd also rather get three cavities filled while being forced to watch a Mob Wives marathon than go to a ball game or a party.

3. Writing is a way for me to express all the feelings and thoughts that I don't have the courage to say out loud to other people.

4. I was willing to accept it when I realized that I would never be a singer; I realized it when I didn't get into a singing group that I tried out for in college (the members were not shy about letting me know that my voice was not as good as theirs). My voice cracks at the high notes and I start to sound like one of the Chipmunks. I stopped singing after that audition (for the most part). I was willing to accept it when I realized that I would never be an athlete, seeing as how I can't walk onto a field or a court without getting hit by the ball. That's why I stopped trying out for sports teams when I was younger. But I'll never accept a life without writing, because I'll keep writing even if I never get published.

5. Like I've mentioned before, I feel happiest in bookstores, because I get to be in a room full of other people's stories and ideas. And being in a bookstore makes me imagine what it would be like to see my own book on one of the shelves.

6. I'd rather spend money on books and writing paper than makeup, which may explain why I am thirty-one years old and I still don't know how to wear lipstick. That's why I don't wear makeup. The few times I've tried wearing it, it always ends up looking like a five-year-old who's just eaten three bowls of sugary cereal has put on the makeup for me.

7. There's no guarantee that my dreams will come true (even if I try to make them come true), or that I'll get my happy ending. But the good thing about writing fiction is that I can make my characters' dreams come true and give them happy endings, although I try to do it without making the stories sound like an episode of The Brady Bunch or Full House (the cheesy music they always played on the latter show when the characters "made up" always drove me nuts).

8. When I got my first rejection letter from a literary magazine that I submitted a story to, I actually felt pretty good. I felt proud of myself for finally putting my work out there, even if it didn't get published. I thought of all the other successful writers whose work I'd admired; I knew that they had all received their own share of rejection letters. I realized that it was better to try to make it as a writer than to just talk about becoming one. (Sounds obvious, I know, but how many people do you know who talk a lot about how they want to write a book but never write anything?)

What about you? What makes you feel like a writer?

Side note: Here's a funny video of teachers dancing behind unsuspecting students. This is just more proof of how much teachers rock!