Hey everyone! So I got this awesome tag #writerlife and set of questions from my friend Kelsey Macke and her awesome YouTube channel KelsNotChelsNotLive (see here!)

I don’t vlog (at least, not yet) so I thought I could still participate with my answers in a regular blog format. (Hope that’s okay, Kelsey!) Without further ado, here are the questions and my answers. Please feel free to write your own answers and share!

1. Write Fuel: What do you eat/drink while writing?

I usually have snack-y kinds of food when I write, which most of time involve chocolate. Like peanut M&Ms. Or straight up Dove chocolate. If I’m attempting to be healthy, I will grab some pretzels or trail mix. I try to start with water but as my energy fades I usually switch to sweet tea or pop to keep the words flowing.

2. Write Sounds: What do you listen to while writing?

It really depends on my mood or what I’m working on. Things like plotting or researching I can listen to the playlists I made for the current WIP I’m working on, but if I’m deep in concentration on what is going on in the scene, I can’t listen to music with words because …then I want to sing along. I like instrumental soundtracks (like Inception) or I have a few other instrumental composers I usually turn to for inspiration and background noise.

3. Write Vice: What’s your most debilitating distraction?

It is a tie between Twitter and Candy Crush. Twitter, because I love seeing what else is going on with my writer friends or in the community in general. Candy Crush because HOW CAN YOU STOP WHEN THERE ARE 1034593432 OTHER LEVELS TO BEAT?

4. Write Horror: What’s the worst thing that’s ever happened to you while writing?

Coming to the conclusion (two separate times) that my story was not going in the right direction and I needed to scrap most (or all of it) and start over. In the end, it turned out to be a good thing because I think the end product is better for it, but when you are sitting on the cusp of that grounding realization, it is kind of hard to think of anything else more horrible!

5. Write Joy: What’s the best thing that’s ever happened while writing or how do you celebrate small victories?

For me so far in my writing life, finishing my first novel was the best thing that has happened while writing. It seemed so unattainable for so long that when it happened, I wasn’t sure it was real. I was really proud of that and I just celebrated by basking in that pride for as long as I could.

6. Write Crew: Who do you communicate with or not communicate with while writing? 

I usually talk/email/text/tweet one of my main CPs, Vicki, when I am writing. I have a severe case of writer-spazzing where I will think my idea/scene/character is amazing one minute and then the next I’m questioning everything about it and how it will never work the way I want it to. I usually need someone to pat my head and tell me it will all be okay.

7. Write Secret: What’s your writing secret to success or hidden flaw?

My hidden flaw is definitely not hidden. I can sum it up in one word. JUST. The word ‘just’ is as common in my writing as it is to see Miley sport her crazy tongue face these days. I’ve gotten better at noticing it while I compose the first draft, but there are still a TON of them left that I have to search and destroy in later revisions.

8. Write-spiration: What always makes you productive?

So many things in “real life” can get in the way of your time to write, so I usually am productive when I’ve already set the time aside in my mind for writing. I already have it planned that tomorrow I’m waking up and writing whatever I can get out by noon, and that’s that. Setting the time aside for writing usually yields results instead of trying to squeeze in a half hour or an hour at the end of the day when all my brain cells are pretty much shot.

9. Write Peeve: What’s one thing writers do (or you do) that’s annoying?

I think one of the most annoying things that writers do (me included) is try to be perfect. I am a perfectionist at heart and my brain can’t understand how it isn’t possible to editing a book enough so that every person on the earth will love it. We are so afraid of criticisms sometimes, that we hide behind ‘trying to make it perfect’ when in reality it never will be perfect for everyone. Sometimes we just have to settle for doing our very best on a piece, and then letting it go and moving on. It’s not easy, but it is part of the process.

10. Write Words- Share one sentence from a project. Past or present.

(in reference to a kiss as it is taking place) “It is a crescendo, a sky dive, a lightning strike, a solemn hallelujah.”

Okay, your turn! If you vlog, be sure to check out Kelsey’s video and tag yourself in your video response with #writerlife! If you don’t vlog, write a regular blog post as I did. I would love to see other responses and see how other writers live the life 🙂