1. Your Best Work is Garbage (To You, Anyway)

Sound like you? You’re probably a writer.

There’s probably a little voice in the back of your head that constantly shouts that your writing is never good enough, and that it could exponentially improve. People will read your writing and think it’s great, but you assume they say it out of pity. After all, you’re a writer: you’ll spend hours writing a beautiful piece of art and then hate it the next morning. It’s an agonizing process, but you love it anyway.

2. You “Daydream”

If you’re a writer, you know exactly what I’m talking about.

To any onlooker, you’ve got this blank stare that appears as if you’re either suffering from a spiraling depression or dwelling on angered thoughts, but we writers know that it has nothing to do with our emotions – we’re piecing together scenes in our head to advance the plot in our story.

Basically, we’re in fantasy land.

And if an amazing idea arises, you know just how all-consuming it is. You’ll want to jot down whatever you’re thinking, no matter where you are at, on either a piece of notebook paper or the notes in your phone just in case you forget.

So, to those who catch a glimpse of our RBF, just know we aren’t crazy. It’s one of our quirks. In fact, don’t even interrupt. You’ll do the author a favor.

3. You Probably Have a Wattpad Account

Oh, yes, beloved Wattpad; it’s basically the YouTube for writers, but I’m sure you already knew that. Because when you’re entirely too shy to have people you actually know read your writing, you’ll allow total strangers. It makes total sense.

4. Writer’s Block is Comparable to the Flu

When this happens, the world stops. Inspiration is long-gone, and you’re at a dead-end, trapped with no other way to turn. There is, of course, no other cure to this than writing itself – as agonizing as it is when you don’t want to – until you dig yourself out of this dark hole.

And then once you’re back on track, life is good.

5. You’re Antisocial

Nothing angers more than when your phone buzzes with texts you, quite frankly, don’t want to be bothered answering. After all, it’s because you’re so all-consumed in writing out that latest crucial chapter. People just don’t get us – it’s okay.

They should understand there’s not enough hours in the day to write.

6. Writing is Your Best Friend and Therapist

Angry? You write. In tears? You write.

It’s cheap therapy.

And if you’re ever bored, writing is that friend you can always fall back on to occupy your time, because we both know it’s our escape to an entirely different reality.

7. Your Mood is Affected By Whatever You’ve Written

It only makes sense. Whether one of your characters have been killed off, falls ill, or is in a constant state of hell, you’ll probably experience a change of mood, especially when you’re in the zone while writing it.

And if you think this is absolutely ridiculous, and I can assure you that you are not a writer at heart. Like, at all.

8. You Hate Leaving the House

You’re well aware that you are a recluse.

Well, most writers are, anyway. Believe it or not, there are extroverted writers out there in the world.

But you adore your alone time. Normal people feel trapped after an extended period of time, but we writers love solitude. It’s our prime-time to think, to brainstorm, and to land all of our thoughts into words and paragraphs. I mean, God forbid people actually want to see us in person. And when we do leave, we silently wish we were in front of a computer screen to continue typing away. Or you open up your Wattpad account on your phone and write whenever there’s an available chance.

It’s top priority here, people.

9. Your Greatest Desire is to Just Complete Something

It’s a real pain. You have so many ideas – in fact, too many ideas – but that doesn’t mean they should be disregarded. From new plot depth, to new scenes, or even just scrapping what you already have, you overwhelm yourself. You hold your writing on such a high pedestal that you want to complete everything at once, but we both know that it takes time. And as Stephen King would agree: your writing should always value quality over quantity.

I’ve learned that when my mind’s wheels start turning, I just have to scribble down my ideas somewhere for later, because I’m only going to be disorganized and disappointed if I act on everything at once.

10. You’ve Read the Dictionary . . . For Fun

There. I said it.

You know in your heart that when you discover a new word, you hands-down have to check your dictionary because adding new vocabulary into your writing actually gets you all giddy inside. And, well, you get side-tracked and read all the surrounding words as well. Maybe you’ll even turn a few pages out of utter fascination, jotting a few of them down. You don’t have to deny the fact that you find interest in hundreds of thousands of words along with their definitions — I’m aware that’s a nightmare to most people — but we writers are an odd breed of people.

So, you do you, and what works is what works.

11. Your Day Isn’t Complete Without Writing

This pretty much says it all. You know you’re a writer when you just don’t feel “right” when you go a day without it. You’re deprived. It’s this undying urge that isn’t satisfied until you settle your thoughts into a document. Basically, it’s your drug, and you can’t go to bed until you get your fix.

You might not relate to all of these, but if you do: congratulations.