I organized all of my writing materials today and saw that writing is just as much a part of me as my fingers or toes. I started playing "I Spy," a game I so loved as a child. I guess I loved it because even then I was a tiny observer, someone who loved searching for things, who loved questions, and clues. No one ever guessed mine because I always picked the most minuscule thing, finding it so beautiful.
Today I did the same thing! I played "I Spy" and discovered that I am a person who has had the strength and dedication to finish writing a novel, to revise it, to believe in it, and to keep going with a vision that I've had for almost five years now. I realized just by seeing drafts of manuscripts sleeping soundly in a box.
I discovered I am someone who is a collector of sorts. I have envelopes stashing every note I've every taken for this series, all of my files for character development, and even copies of every manuscript I've worked on, showing just how far I've come as a writer. I have folders with first drafts, with revisions, and feedback. And I have it all stored away so someday down the line I can look at all of those ideas. I learned that I am someone committed to the craft of writing. I have over nine books that have to do with the craft of writing. Sure I've only read about half but it is my dedication to being a better writer that I unearthed among these books.
I also found that I take advice (well some of it anyway) very seriously. I have over eleven notebooks that have been filled or are almost filled and it's all because I read you should always keep a notebook handy. Early on, I learned that it was great advice. Now I have a notebook or journal for everything and I love that I can tuck away notes and quotes and book ideas until I'm ready to see them again
Along the lines of being organized, I also realized that I am somewhat binder obsessed. I have seven binders right now that are just spilling over with all of the paper crammed inside. I have a binder labeled writing that houses everything I've ever written from a limerick about pickles that I wrote in seventh grade all the way up to the latest short story I finished.
I have a Keep Calm and Write On binder that houses all of the feedback I've gotten for my first book. I have one binder that has general information, character sketches, notes, and even sections for every book I've planned in the Falling series. There is a binder for poems, short stories, and even other book ideas that I'd like to pursue. I have a skinny binder with the pages of my first manuscript, one which shall not be named. And the behemoth of them all is my binder with the research I've done on publishing with practice query letters and feedback from my earliest BETA readers. Somehow having all of that stored in brightly-colored binders assures me that I'm organized, that I'm passionate, and that I'm a writer.
If there's anything I've learned from this little game of "I Spy," it's that I'm a writer but I'm also a writer who is procrastinating. I suppose if I'm writing this here than I am in fact writing, but I'm seriously neglecting my other work right now. All that's left to do now is feel reassured and get back to my lonely word document and write!
xoxo
K.K.