But what makes a writer? A person that writes!

I just finished reading this post, apparently from a week or so back, and it made me smile with rejoice.

What Is A Real Writer? 

Gosh, I just love posts like that, that make me feel better about my crappy output of words. I love to write, don't get me wrong. I love to read and write and create stories in my head and trey to get them somewhat out onto paper.

Is it just me, or does the process of writing seem to kill the story?

When I have an idea in my head, I want to get it on 'paper' as soon as possible. If I'm already on my computer, this paper will be a new document entitled IDEA #, where I have already reached #5 just last Friday. Then there's my idea book. Those have my midnight rambling and half attempts to get a semi formed thought onto paper. Sometimes this is enough to get a full idea forming, or at least respark the thought in my mind.

Sometimes, I feel like someone else has stolen my notebook and gone berserk in it.

The ideas themselves aren't always all that good. Otherwise, I'd have to find a way to be writing some 40+ stories, and that just isn't going to happen.

Everything sparks an idea in me. Not that I'm getting a new idea ever second, or even every day, but just about. Some ideas tie in with a story I am already in the process of fleshing out. Some ideas are insignificant character buildups, like allergies and shoe sizes, that are never going to be in the actual story, but my subcon wanted me to know. I love those little tidbits about my characters. It's like those conversations you have with your best friend that a passerby would think you strange if they over heard. My characters become my best friends in the sense that I have to know these things about them.

And then there are the idea that suck. I like keeping them around, because it's good to suck! It helps to know that you can also be good, you have proof of that, but you are no where near perfect. No one can pop out every idea that comes to them. (Except maybe James Patterson! He has a lot of books out, every year. And while there may be ghost writers involved, those are still his ideas! I find that crazy!)

I find everything about writing crazy and insane and just thrilling! How bizarre is it to make your own person, name them and design them and flaw them, give them dreams and nightmares and then create people to help them and love them, hate them and hurt them. These are you children, in a sense, but they're their own people too. They're your lifelong friends, family, teammates. It's an exciting thing, seeing them learn and grow. Their success is your success, because you have managed to get them through it. No hero will beat the villain if you can't get yourself out of bed in the morning and to your computer. No girl gets her perfect prom night if you're too busy running errands to sit and flush out some words onto that pad. It just can't happen without you.

If simply can't.

And that, to me, is what makes a writer.