#WritersLife Tag – In Which I Pilfer a Tag Instead of Being Creative

Just when I was starting to adapt to my new (ish) two jobs schedule – Daylight Saving Time.

Recovering from DST was bad enough before. Now it makes me feel like death (and probably look like it too).

So, in short, I feel like writing, but not writing any book reviews or anything that requires a lot of deep contemplation. So what do you do in a situation like that? Character interviews! While it requires thought and creativity, I have more of those than I do energy ;P

So in short – I haven’t been doing much reading or writing for a few weeks. Work, sleep, eat. And again! But I do have a few books I’m working through, and I’m hoping to get a few finished and get back into reviews. Hoping.

In the meantime, I felt like writing a post, but I was too lazy to think of something – so what do you do in those cases? Pilfer a tag. Preferably a writing one, since writing about writing is the closest thing to writing, right? (Read that sentence five times fast)

The #WritingLife tag was originally from Cait @ Paper Fury (who stole it from someone else), and I snatched it from Victoria Grace @ StoriTori’s Blog. So it’s a thrice-stolen tag

Face it – this is all just an excuse to use too many gifs in a post

*note* – none of these images belong to me – they’re all copyrighted by the respective suits. I’m not making money off of any of this.

Yo ho, yo ho, a #WritersLife for me:

1.) Write Fuel: What do you eat/drink while writing?

This is an important question. But it’s kind of difficult to eat while writing,* you know, so I tend to stick to liquid. Favorites include TEA, coffee (usually an entire pot), and wine, when it’s around. Having something to pick up periodically makes me less distracted, overall.
You were warned
*Footnote – I have tried eating ramen and writing – neither went too well. Chocolate works better.

2.) Write Sounds: What do you listen to while writing?

More music than is probably healthy. It depends on what I’m writing, but I have playlists for each book (sometimes each character), and I play them in a row so I don’t have to mess with it. Hundreds of songs later, I usually just want the sound of silence ( not the song, the actual thing). So I’m an extremes girl. My current writing mood playlist is below, if you’re interested.

3.) Write Vice: What’s your most debilitating distraction?
Err, everything? The door. Cars. Strange sounds the house makes. My cat. Books. I don’t have internet at home, which is a source of endless frustration, but also the reason I actually get things done at home.
Food. Food is always a distraction. I spend a lot of time thinking about eating things I don’t have. *whispers* YouTube
An obvious choice, I — SQUIRREL!
It’s kind of amazing that I have ever written anything . . .
4.) Write Horror: What’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to you while writing?
When I was sixteen or so, my writing computer crashed, and I lost about half of my writing. I salvaged what I could, but when you combine an epic loss with teenage hormones . . . it was rough for a bit. The good news is that I became a back-up junkie. I have back-ups for EVERYTHING, including my backups, and two different online storage locations.
This is how I feel just THINKING about it . . .
5.) Write Joy: What’s the best thing that’s ever happened while writing or how do you celebrate small victories?

So far – signing a publishing contract for Knight of the Blue Surcoat. I’m still kind of holding my breath until I actually hold it in my hands though. Actually, when my publisher requested a full manuscript from the partial – that excitement might have been even better. Even though I didn’t know where it was going, she seemed so eager to read my manuscript, and that does so much for your writer’s confidence!!

More excited than Buddy over Santa!
6.) Write Crew: Who do you communicate with or not communicate while writing? –

It depends. If I’m in deep, I communicate with no one. I go into a mental writer’s cave and ignore the world as long as possible. If I’m just talking about writing, or *gasp* actually editing, then I frequent Twitter and other blogs! And I have to mention my dear sister Grace who is my patient beta reader, rant listener, and is generally tolerant of my moods/current obsessions.

Grace – this gif is for you
7.) Write Secret: What’s your writing secret to success or hidden flaw? –
I don’t think there are any secrets to success. Work hard, be dedicated, and don’t give up. That last bit is the most important, because it’s the hardest thing.
*Hidden* flaw? It’s no secret that I’m a wordy little blighter . . .

 

8.) Write-Spiration: What always makes you productive? –
I don’t think there are many “always” things in my life . . .
Music helps (mostly). So does Pinterest (mostly)
Ironically, sometimes a really bad day can make me the most productive. Working in customer service, I always have to be on top of things and functioning  110%, so writing is a release. I have done some of my best work (in my humble opinion) when I was at my lowest points.
9.) Write Peeve: What’s one thing writers do (or you do) that’s annoying?  –
Other People: Tell writers how/what they should write, and leave no room for the differences in people’s lives, situations, or temperaments. Now I’m not talking writing professionals, friends, or advice-givers here, I’m talking about telling people what to do because you know so much better.  If you don’t believe in and love your story – why are you writing it?
Me: Too many to list here. My inability to focus on one project at a time drives me crazy.
10.) Write Words: Share one sentence from a project, past or present. –

And here I thought I’d get away without writing anything . . . ;P

So here’s a random phrase (okay, 4 sentences) from my WIP, Red as Blood –

“Take it back –it’s hideous. They got it all wrong. I wanted a girl. She was supposed to be beautiful.”-Red as Blood

I’ll just leave this here

So there you go. Feel free to pilfer it yourself!

And because I stole it, I’m also flouting any rules.

PIRATE

Author: Beck

A writer who has been doing a lot of other things along the way Currently working on my Korean fluency and editing/writing/refining dozens of novels I love music almost more than I love food #BTSARMY

20 thoughts on “#WritersLife Tag – In Which I Pilfer a Tag Instead of Being Creative”

  1. I saw this on Tori’s blog, too! I might try to sneak it in at some point (even if it’s months from now… I still have other blog awards and tags to catch up on).

    Not surprised by your tea confession in #1, or your answer to #2. 😉 And I agree with your answers to #7 and #9. Hard work, motivation, and persistence / perseverance are all crucial to a writer’s process. As for writing advice, yes, it’s important that advice comes from a place of authenticity. (I think that’s what you were trying to say, right?) I’m also wary of following “black and white” advice, where people tell you that you HAVE to do something this way. Imposing your advice or putting someone else down because something that works for you doesn’t work for them never helps. I’ve actually stopped following certain writing professionals for that reason.

    (*steps off of her soapbox*) Ahem.

    I like that line from RAB. It sounds like dialogue – is it? Coming from your protagonist, maybe? I know you posted your most recent Beautiful People about him, but I forgot his name…

    1. Lol- yes, we’ve discussed writing music and food/drink extensively. As I said, it’s important. But this time I actually embedded my playlist.

      “As for writing advice, yes, it’s important that advice comes from a place of authenticity. (I think that’s what you were trying to say, right?”
      Basically – you just said it better. I was more excited about finding the “hand-talking” G-Dragon gif than *actually* making sense, I think. 😛

      You are pretty darn close – the line from Red As Blood IS dialogue, but, *plot twist* it’s actually dialogue about Sull. It was his mother’s last words, as reported to him by one of his first nannies. His mother wanted a girl, you see . . .

      1. Ah, OK. Just wanted to make sure we were on the same page there. 😉

        Poor Sull. If those were his mother’s last words, then I’d hate to think how the rest of his life went prior to Red As Blood (based on what I remember from your BP post). *sadly refrains from offering Sull a hug, since she knows he wouldn’t like that*

  2. AHH THIS WAS GREAT AND SO AMUSING. And I mean, technically tags are like for anyone to do anyway?! But it’s devious to say we “stole” it because ARR ME HEARTIES. *struts around like a pirate* Ahem. What was I saying? Oh yes…CONGRATS on that publishing contract! ? ? ? ? I HAD NO IDEA OMG!! YOU’RE FAMOUS! heheh
    And also why is everything so distracting? Sheesh. My dog is very distracting. The weather is distracting. My stomach wishing for a snack is distracting. -_- (And I can’t write AND eat at the same time either. :P)
    And I definitely agree that hard work IS truly the secret.

    1. Thanks Cait! I always wanted to be a pirate, but when I got a little older, I realized that it involved breaking lots of useful moral codes . . . so . . . I “steal like an artist” instead 😛

      Not famous enough to be holding a book with my name on it in my hands yet, lol. But thank you! I’m super excited, but it’s so blooming hard to be patient!

      EVERYTHING IS DISTRACTING. Thanks for stopping by 🙂

    1. Thanks Skye 🙂 I was having waaaay too much fun finding gifs the other day, and I had to fit them all into a post somehow, lol. I feel like 90% of my time online is spent in either trying to remember why I was online, or looking at silly gifs and laughing my head off. Yes. I know I’m 9 inside.

      Thanks for reading/commenting! (And I plan on more Red as Blood snippets eventually, so stay tuned)

  3. OH MY WORD THIS POST. Firstly, your gif usage is superb and hilarious; secondly, the post itself is so very relatable and awesome and… hilarious. Thirdly: DST! I HATE IT SO! I still haven’t recovered. I probably look like death too. -_- *feels a kinship to you*

    I am suddenly realizing that I haven’t been reading your blog nearly often enough because I LOVE YOUR POSTS and I’m so happy you’re on a new blog which is wordpressish because I can never make blogger listen to me and consequently don’t always remember to read blogspot blogs. SO THIS IS FABULOUS AND MAKES ME HAPPY.

    Sorry, I’m in a hyper mood. Also the internet thing… I used to get stuff done because of not having internet access in my room. This suddenly changed. I’m both giddy with internet power… and utterly doomed because I will never get anything useful done again. XD

    Your answer to 3? YES. ME.

    1. I sort of want to . . . err, maybe my thoughts about Benjamin Franklin and DST are better left unpublished? They’re not very nice. Ahem.
      We can be the Sisters Death. It’s like the Brothers Grimm. But I think Supernatural’s Death is way too classy and sober to let me join his club. Maybe I can be the Death of Daylight Saving Time?

      I’m glad you like my silly posts. I sometimes feel like I’m just making glorified Tumblr posts (not that there’s anything wrong with Tumblr). But I JUST LOVE GIFS, OKAY. I love my new blog format too, as it seems to work WAY better than the previous format. And it just looks cleaner.

      If I had internet in my room, I would probably never leave. So if you leave, you’re a stronger person than me . . . (envisions herself thousands of Youtube videos later – and she literally looks like Death)

      Thanks for reading! <3

  4. It’s cool to hear more about your writing process! You don’t have internet at home? That sucks. I couldn’t stand that. I’m such a hermit. XD I assume you mooch off of coffee shop wifi or something of the like? I did that when my internet went out for two weeks. XD Music is the best! Never be guilty for listening to too much music.

    1. No, I don’t have internet at home – or a TV. I DO have a computer that crashes regularly, a lot of cds, an electric water heater though, so when I actually sit down to write at home, I usually get a lot done! If I had internet, I assume I’d just spend way more time watching things on DramaFever and YouTube, and never get anything done. That would be typical.
      So when I’m writing for my blog, I have to do it after work at the shop, or at the library. So my erratic posting makes a little more sense 😉
      I only really feel guilty about listening to too much music when I can’t stop drone/humming whatever song I listened to 2.5 thousand times. It’s not nice to the people around me, as I can’t carry a tune . . .

      Thanks for reading/commenting! 🙂

  5. A home without internet? *shudders* J/k, I’m glad it works for you. 🙂 I’ll get to enjoy all of your amazing published books because of it!

    Aww, poor Sull! I had a feeling someone was saying that dialogue about him, poor guy. But I thought it was one of the seven ladies at the diner, saying they’d wanted a pretty female waitress or something, haha. But his own mother? *teeears* that’s so heartbreaking! Maybe I’ll give Sull a hug even if he tries to fight it…

    1. Well, I caved and got a TV, so I’m halfway off the cliff (not that I can get any channels, it just means that I won’t have to use my crashing laptop to watch movies).

      Sull needs hugs. But man will he fight. Of course, he basically loses every fight he’s in, poor kid. Not only is he short and pretty, he’s skinny as a weed – #EvilAuthorProblems
      But hey – he’s got the former warrior women of Henpecked to whip him into shape. It’s like kitchen bootcamp!

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