5 Things All Aspiring Authors Know To Be True About Their Craft

Writers are an interesting breed.

We become kind of consumed with the art of writing.

The most interesting fact about writers is there are a lot of common threads among us.

If you're reading this, you're probably either a writer yourself or interested in the art.

If so, here are five truths we as writers know to be true:

1. We will always get an idea for something when we don't have a pen.

Driving in your car, going 80 mph?

Seems like the perfect time to have your main character suddenly want to give a whole speech about her identity.

Sitting in a department meeting at work?

You just got a great idea for a horror novella.

Trying to fall asleep?

Ha, not you. You just got an idea for a groundbreaking screen play, so get your tired little butt out of bed and wander to your laptop.

Just pretend you don't have to be up at 5 am to go to work in the morning.

2. We all secretly hope for a bad argument or bad relationship experience so we can write about it.

Dating is so much more than holding hands, sexual intercourse and kissing.

It's also about being able to take away experiences on how it feels to be cheated on.

We want to have our significant others lie to us about their real agea, just so we can write that much more authentically for our characters.

Your main character, Jason, is feeling crushed because his girlfriend, Annabella, just told him she's really 33 years old.

Now, he is having a crisis trying to figure out how he can have a future with someone who wasn't honest with him.

Bingo. You have some knowledge on that.

3. We go to coffee shops for the caffeine, not the scene.

Sitting at Starbucks with a Salted Caramel Mocha in hand and typing away at a laptop is not meant for real writers. (Sorry.)

We get some work done, sure, but we become too busy taking pictures on our phones or eavesdropping on other people's conversations.

We need quiet, peace and tranquility.

We need to be behind closed doors, third cup of coffee in hand and typing away, adding chapter after chapter to our future bestsellers.

4. We all know what we'll say when we become famous and get interviewed.

"So, a lot of your main characters are either dealing with unplanned pregnancies or trying to navigate motherhood. Why is that a common thread in all of your characters?"

"Well, I think nothing explains vulnerability better than being trapped in a situation and not knowing fully how to navigate it."

I imagine fake Diane Sawyer interviews in my car, while sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic.

5. We all have heard this at one time or another: "You don't need to get a job as a writer. You can just write in your spare time."

No.

It's not about getting a job working at a local office that is conveniently located 10 miles from your house, spending 10 hours there and then coming home to work on your novel.

It's about wanting to wake up in the mornings and write (and drink coffee).

It's about the need for you to talk about writing, to read books and learn different techniques, to develop your own style and to sit in front of a computer until you feel your fingers bleeding.

It's about spending your weekends in front of your laptop.

It's about wearing baggy sweats, throwing your hair up in a messy bun, resting your reading glasses that you know you need from staring at a screen so often on your nose and letting creativity flow.

It's not about living a life from 9 am to 5 pm just to get by.

It's about living life as a writer and nothing more.