Top Ten Signs of a Writer
From the moment my eighth-grade English teacher gave me an A on my paper and asked me to read it to the class, I knew I’d be a writer. Writers just know they are writers. If there are any doubts in one’s mind, take a look at the top ten signs of a writer, from a writer’s perspective:
10) I mentally correct people’s grammar in social settings. Family events keep me extra busy.
9) Menu, sign or marquee typos jump out at me like a jittery horse at a starting gate. Hardly anyone ever thanks me when I call the place of business from the car phone.
8) I once contacted a LARGE company (I don’t want to name names, but the initials are CBS) to let them know of a typo in a two-page, four-color magazine ad touting its new programming.
7) I’ve called local and major networks to tell them how to correctly spell words like “mortgage”, “relief”, “interest” and other commonly used terms on their newscast graphics. I know, there are 12-year-olds in the control room doing the graphics – I’ve talked to them.
6) I think of a better verb or adjective in final copy I posted two weeks ago, and then I make the change.
5) Every 10 seconds, I have a new idea about something to write about – usually on my blog (www.EveryDayPR.net)
4) I’m a social media friend to sites like Grammar Girl and It’s vs. Its
3) After physically wincing, I circle in red ink incorrect noun and verb tense in newspapers/magazines and anonymously mail them back to the publisher.
2) I can’t write a simple “gone to store” message; I must give greater details on which store, descriptives on what I need and an estimated time of return.
And the #1 reason I know I’m a writer:
1) I regularly re-read my favorite book of all time: Eats, Shoots and Leaves, the zero tolerance book for incorrect punctuation by Lynne Truss.
How do you know that you’re a writer? Please let us know in the comments below!
Susan Hart, APR, is an independent Public Relations consultant with 25+ years of experience. Beginning as a journalist, she represents clients in health care, financial, technology and real estate offering professional writing as a primary service. She is accredited by the PRSA.
All of these reasons are why I am both an editor and a writer! Great list, and good to know I’m not the only one with a built in device that goes into corrective overdrive at family gatherings!
And you can forget about class reunions re: mental editing! Painful! Thanks for commenting.
Wait, you mean those things aren’t just normal behavior??
Only for Grammar Nazis like us!
HAHAHA! I’m with you, Eric!
Love this!!! And, I agree. My favorite corrections to make are on Face Book. There are tons of opportunities available to writers and grammar buffs!! Of course, it doesn’t win me many friends. Oh, well. Maybe they’ve “learned something”, and so have all of their readers, chuckle. My greatest paranoia, however, is that I’LL BE WRONG! Then I’ll just look stupid as well as an egotistical ass.
You know you’re a writer when you mentally rewrite passive and/or awkward sentences as you’re reading BNA’s novels.
You know you’re a writer because, well, you clicked on the link to read this article when it appeared in the status update of someone you’ve friended on a social media site.
Ha! Good point LH!
You know you’re a writer when you’re reading a blog post, especially one you agree with, and you suddenly change your opinion of the author because they don’t know the difference between “their” and “they’re” or even “there”!
Hmm. … I’m not good at grammar at all, in fact I probably don’t qualify as a writer at all according to these standards. But the truth is this, If you must write, write. … There is nothing more true than that. When something bothers me or a story pops into my head, I start writing. Even if my grammar is terribly sloppy and I can’t spell half the word it doesn’t matter. What matters is the writing.
Wow. They’re our others’ out their like me?
(I know you’re all cutting yourselves now!)
Gotta run. Tonight I’m having grandma for dinner.
Yes! Let’s eat Grandma!
Hm, I’m quite unsure if this actually are signs that you are a writer, because most of this has nothing to do with writing itself.
When I read your title I though you’d list reasons like “Because I wake up every morning thinking about my novel” or “Because even the smallest note in a newspaper gives me great ideas for stories”.
The reasons you named sound more like a editor or (English) teacher.
It sounds like passion for grammar and not like passion for writing itself.
But maybe that’s just me. Grammar, punctuation and so on are just tools for me, something I try not to think about until editing ;)
Knowing how to spell correctly doesn’t make you a writer. Writing does.
Knowing the basics of how to use a camera correctly doesn’t make you a photographer. Knowing anatomy doesn’t make you a doctor.
knowing the essentials of art does not make you a painter.
Taking pictures does, practicing medicine does, paiting does.
You know you are a writer when you write.
I agree with Meira. You are a writer when you don’t have a choice, when you just MUST write down the stories/poems/articles in your head.
This makes you a writer.
Not knowing how to spell something correctly. This is “only” knowledge.
Writing is not knowledge but imagination and passion and writing.
At least in my world ;)
I hope I made my point clear and I hope for your strong sense of grammar that my English isn’t too terrible.
Technically you are correct. Correcting grammar, spelling, punctuation etc was always a job for an editor not a writer. However it these days of self-publishing, blogging etc, most writing does not get review by an editor before being posted/published, so it is up to the modern writer to correct their own grammar, spelling etc. because if you post something that’s wrong people will just stop reading it.
Interesting perspective Rae. My brain just works in “writer/editor” mode simultaneously because that’s how I was trained. Plus, I began my career as a small town reporter, which meant you wrote, edited, photographed and laid out your story. Although the technology then was nothing like we have today, resources were limited, and we were always on deadline. I think as long as we, as writers, pursue our craft with the level of enthusiasm and creativity that good writing requires, the approach is secondary. Thanks for your sharing your comments – very insightful!
Lighten up lady!
I love Eats, Shoots & Leaves -my copy is dog-eared and well loved. I never leave my dorm room without a Sharpie so that I can correct misspelled and grammatically flawed signs all around campus. I can’t walk past them without experiencing almost physical pain unless I fix it. It’s very good to know I’m not alone! :)
I agree with commenters who say that knowing how to use grammar properly does not in itself make someone a writer, but what I will say is this: If I come across a piece of writing (a blog, an advertisement, a book [self-published or traditionally produced], a story, a poem and so on) and find spelling and grammatical mistakes all through it, I will stop reading. I won’t spend money or time on something if it’s not done well.
Mistakes happen -we all make them. However, the difference between someone who writes and someone who is a writer comes from the willingness to fix those mistakes and present a polished, corrected manuscript to the public. Anything less is laziness and laziness doesn’t deserve to be read.
Well said! Thanks!
“How do you know that you’re a writer?”
Because I love to write.
And don’t miss a chance to.
Like here :-)
Nice post, Susan.
All success
Dr.Mani
Very well said – and so true! Thanks for your inspiring comment.
Whoa! I can relate to every single thing! (Well, except for 2) I have notified businesses if I’ve seen errors on their television commercials. I think I tend to fall in the category of editor/writer as well. It seems to all come in handy with learning how to blog.
Hi Susan,
I know that I am a writer because there is absolutely nothing else in the world I’d rather do, even though writing is always hard work. When I cannot write because I am ill (for example last month, when I injured my shoulder and I couldn’t left my little finger, let alone drag my arms to the table and type), I am made more miserable by my inability to write, as my head gets filled more and more with writing I cannot commit to paper or screen. It doesn’t matter that writing can, and often is, painful; not writing at all is, for me, much more soul-wrenching than the expectant blinking cursor. All the best,
Steph~
Are you sure these aren’t the top 10 signs you’re OCD? Of course, this makes most writers look OCD! Sigh.
The most significant way becoming a writer has changed my life is I can no longer write a Post-It without revision.
A Post-It without revision….I love it! Thanks for sharing.
Susan–
Great column. I must concede, I, too, am a writer. Sigh.
One thing that drives me absolutely mad!!!, mad, I tell you, is on my iPhone I have auto-correct. And every time I type in its (the proper version of its) it insists on putting in an apostrophe. Now, I know when it takes one and when it doesn’t. I don’t need iPhone’s INCORRECT help. Very frustrating. Glad to know there are others out there like me.
And as I said on my Facebook page, when I linked this article, we won’t even get into the “bad typography” discussion/curse that I’m also afflicted with.
–Michelle
Interesting point about your iPhone (I don’t have one). Now that I know this, I’m even more hesitant to go that route. Thanks for the tip and for your comment!
Unlike some of the other commenters, I do think that the obsessions you list are symptomatic of writing syndrome, not just of editor/grammar nazi syndrome. First and foremost, a writer cares about language. Has a visceral response to language. That jolt of outrage — described by more than one here as a physical pain — is Clue No. 1 that you are writer! Whether you are reacting to poor grammar, incorrect punctuation, missssspellings, or other offenses, the fact that you are INTENSELY BOTHERED by what others mistakenly assume are minor infractions indicates that you have a connection to language that others simply do not have.
I’m not saying it’s good or bad, mind you. Perhaps those who suggest we should “get a life” are right. (Although, like you, I doubt it.)
Diane, I completely agree. All the best,
Steph~
What Steph said!
that you are A writer. arrrgh. Where’s the “edit your comment” button?
And we’re back to the difference between the mechanical verses the artistic. I’m finding that all of the humanities have the same affliction. I think Diane Farr’s assessment that writers are affected by language should be number one on the list. Mechanical writers long to respect their beloved words through proper usage, artistic writers long to take ordinary words and string them together in such a way that they become extraordinary, that they speak to the heart. We must never lose sight of the fact that words have power, they change how we perceive the world around us, they make us grow. To me, that is the most important aspect of being a writer.
I do agree with you, to an extent. All writers know that words have power: we use them to channel that power in effective and moving ways. That’s a huge part of the reason I write. I am enamored with language and the effects it can have on people. I still take the time to correct my typos.
I think you’re creating an unnecessary dichotomy by drawing a line between the “mechanical” and the “artistic.” Many writers engage in highly artistic forms of writing that are still grammatically and structurally sound -there’s a huge difference between the art that you’re talking about and simple laziness on the part of a writer unwilling to correct his or her errors.
Many writers who are concerned with the mechanics of writing are also incredibly artistic and beautiful writers who just take the time to make sure they have spelled everything correctly. That’s the dichotomy that I see: writers who are willing to be artistic and work for it, and writers who want to dispose of proper spelling and (sometimes arbitrary) grammatical conventions, and call it art.
I am in total agreement with you on the power of words, but there’s not a firm distinction between mechanics and art. Maybe that’s why I like steampunk so much! :)
Words and grammar and all the other things associated with writing are merely tools and nothing until they are brought together. When they do, in just the *right* way, they have their own life to share, their own worlds to unfold.
You know you’re a writer when you can’t journal because you constantly go back and rework your thoughts and sentence structure so it has a better flow.
I know I am a writer because I can’t read a good book (or a bad one for that matter) without having to stop and write something myself :-) I have to read with a notebook close at hand. I think writers love the way words feel when they are sliding out from under their pen or pencil just like seamstresses love the feeling of fabric and knitters love wool and carpenters love good mahogany lumber. Some people act as though they can ‘t possibly understand ‘that writing thing’ when all they have to do is look at their own passions. We love words, you love the gloss and timelessness photographs; we love grammar and punctuation, you love the impact of a bat hitting a ball. We, as writers, love the intangible and erasable, memories and ideas trapped by a fragile netting of words. I guess it would be hard to understand it after all!
Thanks for the great article!
LOL. Number 2 is definitely a sign you are a writer.
I don’t do it so much but sometimes when I come across writing I don’t particularly take to, I’ll find myself rephrasing the sentences or thinking of a more pleasant sounding or flowing adjectives.
As for the rest, I do it quite a lot as an English teacher!
I know I’m a writer because people who don’t know the difference between “your” and “you’re” greatly annoy me!
Hi Susan…i am an aspiring yet perspiring writer…loved your piece…however, what you wrote is about the “craft” part of writing….i guess like all worthwhile pursuits, writing also is “craft” in tight embrace with “art”………Of course, a good command over craft does help art to shine and get noticed…but art can still survive without craft…however, craft can not….If it were so, all school teachers of grammar would be popular authors by now….
Well written piece nonetheless….going back to my current book…keep drafting with great crafting!!
Grammar is the rules which govern writing. Just because one knows good grammar does not make one a writer, it just makes one knowledgeable about rules and regulations associated with writing.
Grammar is a set of rules, rules like in a drivers ed handbook, knowing the rules it does not make you a driver. Being out on the open road, spending time with the wind, a car and the road makes you a driver. Teaching the rules of drivers ed does not make you Mario Andretti, it makes you a drivers ed teacher, knowing the rules of good grammar does not make you Jane Austin, it makes you her editor.
Knowing the rules and regulations of grammar does not make you a writer, it makes you part of the flying elite grammar police squad, I, for one, have never had the desire to be part of any squad.
As a writer I have always strived to throw off the bindings of being governed or ruled by anything or anyone, I am my own ruler. Throw off your schackles, dangle your pronouns, flip off your aphostrophies, and live without rules, or at least stop confusing being part of the grammar natzi police or an editor with that of being a writer.
Passion for anything is wonderful, but passion for the rules that govern language and that of the act of writing and being a writer are very different topics. Let your words run free, unfettered by the shackles of grammar, for you never know on what adventure they can take you……….
I agree with Rae, you’re worrying about the wrong things clever clogs. Writing is about ideas and imagery formed with intelligence and passion and conveyed with authenticity, imagination and aplomb. Stop sweating the typos and write something that will make us smile, think, dream, cry, aspire!
p.s. Should I have used semi-colons in that list? Who cares!
I just write. Grammar. Spelling mistakes and all.
My former boss called me her English Teacher. I too have an uncontrollable desire to correct grammar and poor word usage when I see them. I wrote several stories and when it came to editing them I realized I needed more training. I have recently finished several writing and editing courses. Starting in January, I will be taking two more writing classes. I don’t know if I can call myself a writer however I think I can certainly call myself an aspiring writer. It’s so much fun.
I know you told me to ‘lighten up’ but I am just so disgusted by grammar being called writing. I work with young adults and older adults, who have been told over and over again that’ they cannot write’………Its not that they can’t write it is just that they need a little help with the rules and regulations associated with writing . I truly and wholeheartedly believe everyone has a story to tell in their ‘authentic voice’, and I just am simply sick of of the grammar police beating people down, correcting them, discouraging them, being ‘high and mighty’ about GRAMMAR…. which is NOT writing, My comments were to this article which I really think is about grammar not writing, and that people should really stop confusing the two.
Love this. I’m not a grammar junkie by any stretch. But I’m an idea junkie. Random moments or bits of dialogue that most people miss become an idea that I must write down. Usually it’s for a new blog post, but sometimes it just goes into my notebook for future use in an unknown context. It’s how I started (and finished!) my book. Whenever I need inspiration, I look to that notebook to spark me into a new direction. I can’t be without it, or without the constant churning to make meaning in my brain. I’m tired lol.
Oh my God, and I thought it was just me! I even correct my mum’s grammar – with her permission (which is rare; most people tell me to get lost!). My pet peeve is people not knowing how to spell simple (okay, maybe they are to me…) words; and, especially in this day and age, people using text language as their main form of communication.
Now I don’t feel so…different! :D
Really liking this site, by the way; this is the first time I’ve visited it.
Hey Irene, glad you enjoy the site! Hope you keep reading, and that we fuel your own writing in some way!
Thanks Christopher! I look forward to writing some more…when it doesn’t get put onto the backburner, that is…
A writer who writes ungrammatically and/or with poor spelling and punctuation is like an actor who performs in his own closet. If your words don’t convey your meaning to another human being, in what sense have you written anything? You might as well make squiggles with a crayon. Careless punctuation and incorrect spelling guarantee that your meaning will fall off your pen and onto your bedroom floor. Clunk. Fail.
I have spoken. [grin]
Excellent analogies! Thanks, and I’m grinning back at you!
I know I’m a writer because, when I’m reading a story, if I don’t like how a sentence is put, I will change it in my mind to make it something I like better. And I get severely annoyed when someone spells a simple word wrong or uses it incorrectly.
I love it – mental sentence improvement! Thanks for sharing.
I consider myself a writer, though I don’t own a single red pen. In kindergarden, my teacher always corrected our lessons in her red pen. Perhaps this makes me even less of a writer because I fondly remember her red pen marks all over my assignments. It was like a murder scene of improper penmanship. Guess I’m traumatized my it all.
Nonetheless, I really did enjoy the post. Thanks.
Someone
You are so right – the power of red ink continues to haunt many of us. And if you were bothered by ink pens, correction/revision systems on our computer also are in red! The trauma never ends! Thanks for your comments and compliments.
Tick, tick, tick! I must be a writer after all…
How do I know I’m definitely a writer? I have some evidence, freshly sourced from yesterday when I was writing an email in which I mentioned a local, coastal rock feature known as the Twelve Apostles. Except I didn’t write that; I wrote it as the Twelve Apostrophes.
Oops! That’s a keeper for your files – thanks for sharing,
Susan
I’ve known I was a writer for a long time, and I was one of the ones who got an early start, and the above warning signs listed above did not describe me. The book reports, literary analyses, and all that boring stuff didn’t define me or appeal to me; creative writing assignments did. When we did creative writing assignments even as early as elementary school, then it was my time to shine. Poetry and creative stories I enjoyed doing. At age 16 I decided to attempt at writing my first full length novel. I thought this would be hard, but it was amazing how easily it came to me, but it didn’t end there, a new saga was born. I have been writing ever since, and because I also love to draw, I have drawn some of the characters, and I still draw them. I published the book I wrote at 16-17 last year. Creative assignments in college–I was able to wow my classmates. One assignment was writing a legend for world lit that didn’t mimic any known ones, and I wrote about the “Origin of War”; after doing my oral presentation for it, which I hate, you could hear a pin drop, and my professor was amazed. Another assignment was trying to write a poem for the entire biochemical pathway of photosynthesis for biochemistry. This basically put logical science with creativity, and I was able to pull it off. Sometimes I still get muffled when I see misspelled words or grammatical errors, but I don’t say anything, and I just keep it to myself. I’ve seen simple words like “enemies” misspelled on Facebook and I can see people mix up: except and accept, affect and effect, They’re, their, and there, just to name a few. People all the time ask me how to spell things. At my last job, my supervisor had to ask me how to spell pyrophoric. Even at a home of my own my mother and my younger sister call me and ask how to spell something or to proofread a letter. However, when a short succinct letter is needed, I can do it. “Gone fishing” still comes easily; I don’t have to list fish species size and shape, time of day I’ll be back, etc.
I’ve no doubt you’re gifted – tell me more about your book and creative writing, especially the part about marrying creativity and analytics. Thanks so much for sharing!
Hi, Susan, I saw your comment, and thanks for the opportunity to share more about myself. My creativity probably began when I was little; I lived in the backwoods as an only child. I didn’t hardly have kids to play with, and we had hardly any visitors, so I had to make up friends and my own adventures, but then I also like to stop and observe things-the makings of a scientist as well. So basically I had both components for a long time and I could think with both parts of my brain. I can learn the same thing in more than one way-reading and hands on and combine them; some things require both to get the full picture. I was in first or second grade and I said science was my favorite subject, but I also liked doing creative stuff, creative writing didn’t come till about 4th or 5th grade. That said, it seemed like I have had the best of both worlds almost all my life so I can fuse them together at will, so my college photosynthesis poem project was cake after I began to brainstorm. My other classmates groaned while I was excited that I got to do this and thought how fun it was going to be. I ran across the poem just the other day and read it and I also thought about copying it from the loose leaf paper and putting it on my computer, and I think I still have my “Origin of War” short story. I also have a high school creative assignment based off the style of the late 19th century that I built around the idea that a woman was so poor that she could only afford to buy cat food to eat at the factory she worked at. My classmates thought that was funny and gross at the same time; to this day I think it’s funny and laugh about it. Now about my published work; this book I wrote as a teen sometime before my “cat food lady” story at age 16. I built the story around combining my backwood and backyard adventures. I was brainstorming this as I was skating at a skating ring at a party on my rollerblades, and so, I sat down the day after at my parents’ old computer they bought from my grandfather and it began. As I was writing it, more ideas came for other books. To this day I have 11 completed novels (though I may change some things in some), five other short stories and novellas, and a blog where I write about my life in the backwoods. I’m presently working on two more novels in the saga and still more to come. Getting my first book published is a story in itself filled with the good, the bad, and the ugly; I actually published my sequel together before, but it’s presently stuck at a sucky publisher and I don’t want anyone to see it in the bad shape it’s in and review it, so I’m not promoting it till it can be rescued and redone like my first book. My book, Neiko’s Five Land Adventure is about an Indian warrior from the hidden land of Hawote who finds out that a world she imagined is real and affects her destiny as well as the ongoing war with her tribe plus others fighting against the Crackedskulls. For the sake of space I’ll post my website url: http://www.neikos5landadventure.net for more info on the book. The ebook is coming out pretty soon. The cover and illustrations are based on my own design and character sketches. Sorry it’s long, but there’s a lot of stuff to go with what you wanted to know more about and there’s still more.
This list should be titled “Top Ten Signs of an Editor”