I’m often asked what it’s like being a writer. That has to be one of the hardest questions for me to answer. It’s like asking someone, “What’s it like being you?” Writing is so much a part of me and who I am that it’s nearly impossible to separate the two. My family and friends often joke about me having ink instead of blood in my veins, hence the title ‘Veins Of Ink‘ for my blog.
I was extremely young when I realised I wanted to be an author, not even old enough to know what one was called. All I knew was that I wanted to write the books I loved to read. It was such a monumental moment that I’ve never forgotten it and can clearly bring to mind the memory, like it happened only last week instead of decades ago.
When I was a child I was often in trouble for daydreaming in class so I learned to plot my stories while paying attention, which means I’m now good at compartmentalising and multitasking. Considering how many stories I’m often working between, they are great skills to have.
Now back to the original question, it’s different for everyone. I can only tell you what it’s like for me to be a writer. Noisy. Extremely noisy! I have numerous characters constantly crowding my head, all trying to tell their stories at the same time, and ideas regularly popping into my mind for future stories, even though I have more story ideas than I can possibly write in a lifetime. Even in my sleep I get no peace and often dream the next scene in the story I’m focused on or an idea for another story.
This might sound terrible to some people, but I absolutely love it and wouldn’t change a thing. I don’t have time to be bored because I nearly always have a book in my hand, usually someone else’s, and several in my mind. As a voracious reader, that’s the perfect state to be in.
If you were to ask what it’s like to be an author, that’s a slightly easier question to answer. It’s exactly like being a writer, but you have more than family and friends reading your stories. Strangers are willing to pay money to read your work and often let you know how much they enjoyed the books they’ve read. It’s nice to know others have gained as much from reading my books as I have from writing them. That they’ve grown to love the characters who demanded I write their stories, often keeping me awake until the early hours of the morning.
So, enough about me. What’s it like to be you?