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How to know you’re a writer (in GIF form)

June 6, 2013 by Nathan Bransford 65 Comments

Any time you’re not writing your novel you’re still thinking about your novel:

When people ask you for your thoughts on their writing you give them wayyyyyyyyy too much honest feedback:

Seeing typos make you crazy:

You have so many ideas for novels you don’t know where to put them all:

While your friends are out doing this:

And this:

And this:

Instead you’re inside doing this:

You wake up in the middle of the night with incredible ideas…

But then you can never remember them in the morning.

When you tell people you’re a writer they do this:

And then when they ask about what you write, first you do this:

But then when they get you talking about it you’re like this:

When you have writer’s block you want to do this:

But instead you do this:

When you get a rejection letter from an agent you do this:

But when you get a partial request you do this:

When you see a book you didn’t like on the bestseller list you go:

And when you see a book you hated on the bestseller list you go:

But when something good happens for a writer you love you go:

When someone doubts whether you’re going to be a successful writer you go:

But on the inside you’re kind of like:

When you meet a fellow writer you’re like:

And when you meet a famous writer you’re like:

You get distracted during important conversations because you want to steal something someone said for your novel:

You have strong opinions about Twilight… one way or the other:

And the only thing you love as much as writing is reading.

You know this site…

And this one…

And this one…

And this one…

And someday you’ll see your name on this one.

You know that writing is hard…

And it’s frustrating sometimes…

Did we mention it’s hard?

But you do it because it’s the best.

And sure, maybe we’re all a little crazy…

But let’s face it. Writers are awesome.

See also: The Publishing Process in GIF Form

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Filed Under: The Writing Life Tagged With: Life of a Writer, Staying Sane While Writing

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Rebekka. says

    June 6, 2013 at 4:15 pm

    Yes, yes, yes, and yes!
    And yes, we are awesome.

    Reply
  2. Laurie J. Edwards says

    June 6, 2013 at 4:18 pm

    Love it!

    Reply
  3. Christine Monson says

    June 6, 2013 at 4:19 pm

    OMG! This is SO funny and TOO true! Thank you. I haven't laugh, cried this much in a long time.

    Reply
  4. Vicki Orians says

    June 6, 2013 at 4:20 pm

    lol I love this post! So very true. πŸ™‚

    Reply
  5. Matthew MacNish says

    June 6, 2013 at 4:20 pm

    Is this new or is there a glitch in the matrix?

    Reply
  6. Nathan Bransford says

    June 6, 2013 at 4:22 pm

    Matt-

    Are you thinking of this one?

    https://nbrans.wpengine.com/2012/08/the-publishing-process-in-gif-form.html

    Reply
  7. Christine Monson says

    June 6, 2013 at 4:29 pm

    And writers constantly criticize their own writing, and writing mistakes.

    Opps! I meant to say in my last post, "I haven't laugh-cried this much in a long time."

    Reply
  8. Ava Jae says

    June 6, 2013 at 4:41 pm

    I absolutely love this! Thank you, Nathan!

    Reply
  9. Ariel Eishen says

    June 6, 2013 at 4:43 pm

    Oh man, I snorted a little! Thanks for reminding me I'm normal, Nathan! Ha!

    Reply
  10. Cheryl St.John says

    June 6, 2013 at 4:44 pm

    I laughed all the way through. Sheldon was my favorite, though.

    Reply
  11. abc says

    June 6, 2013 at 4:55 pm

    That Zoolander thing WILL ALWAYS MAKE ME LAUGH.

    Reply
  12. Annabel Joseph says

    June 6, 2013 at 4:58 pm

    Go Gators! (the first .gif) I can honestly say I never did much thinking about my books during the games but I did do a lot of chomping.

    Reply
  13. Chitra Divakaruni says

    June 6, 2013 at 5:01 pm

    You got it! Sharing your link on my FB page https://www.facebook.com/chitradivakaruni

    Chitra Divakaruni

    Reply
  14. stopdropreload says

    June 6, 2013 at 5:28 pm

    What on Earth is going on in GIF number seven? Someone's proposed solution to diving in soccer?

    Captcha: ropes hitman. That's…mildly unsettling.

    Reply
  15. Spike says

    June 6, 2013 at 5:28 pm

    Sweet! Love these, and if you ever want to stop writing and make internet content… I would watch it. πŸ™‚

    Reply
  16. Josin L. McQuein says

    June 6, 2013 at 5:29 pm

    Abso-friggin-lutely.

    And you also know the only four letter word that really makes a writer shudder is: EDIT.

    Reply
  17. Peter Dudley says

    June 6, 2013 at 5:37 pm

    Dude.

    Reply
  18. Lee Libro says

    June 6, 2013 at 5:49 pm

    Yowsa! Very entertaining! Loved it!

    Reply
  19. Laurie Evans says

    June 6, 2013 at 6:18 pm

    Awesome!

    Reply
  20. Elaine Smith says

    June 6, 2013 at 6:27 pm

    I enjoyed this – grining so hard should not hurt πŸ˜‰

    Reply
  21. Rena says

    June 6, 2013 at 6:43 pm

    You might also know you're a writer if you interrupted reading this post to check your email hoping it was an agent getting back to you on your query letter.

    This totally made my day.

    Reply
  22. Shruti says

    June 6, 2013 at 7:21 pm

    As always, absolutely amazing.

    Reply
  23. Sass Cadeaux says

    June 6, 2013 at 8:11 pm

    Thanks for the laughs and accurate description.

    Looking forward to your future blogs!

    Reply
  24. Elisa Nuckle says

    June 6, 2013 at 9:05 pm

    This is hilarious and accurate. I love gif posts like these because they're so derpy and fun.

    Reply
  25. Calliopenjo says

    June 6, 2013 at 9:10 pm

    Couldn't have said it any better myself. This was fun. Do you think teachers would be willing to adopt this form of teaching?

    Reply
  26. 120Pages says

    June 6, 2013 at 9:34 pm

    Fantastic!

    I still look back at "The Publishing Process in GIF Form" whenever I need a laugh.

    So funny, and so true!!! Thank you!

    Reply
  27. Lia Keyes says

    June 6, 2013 at 10:40 pm

    GENIUS.

    Reply
  28. Sarah Hipple says

    June 6, 2013 at 10:42 pm

    Funny and yet a reminder that I'm not completely crazy too (or at least not more so than other witers).

    Reply
  29. smb2323 says

    June 6, 2013 at 10:45 pm

    I think I went through every one of these just today! LOL!

    Reply
  30. christinemareebell says

    June 6, 2013 at 11:17 pm

    Love it!

    Reply
  31. Melissa Pearl says

    June 6, 2013 at 11:32 pm

    You are awesome πŸ™‚
    Thank you so much for that πŸ™‚

    Reply
  32. Bruce Bonafede says

    June 7, 2013 at 12:42 am

    Very funny piece. Some of these are hilarious. Thanks for the laughs!

    Reply
  33. Stephanie Allen says

    June 7, 2013 at 1:04 am

    As a Seahawks fan, I especially appreciate the Harbaugh GIF πŸ˜‰

    Reply
  34. BECKY says

    June 7, 2013 at 1:46 am

    Love, love, love it!

    Reply
  35. Jennifer R. Donohue says

    June 7, 2013 at 2:20 am

    This is probably one of the best lists I have ever seen.

    Also, I love Supernatural.

    Reply
  36. Anonymous says

    June 7, 2013 at 2:38 am

    Nathan, this is THE BEST post *ever*.

    Reply
  37. thewriteedge says

    June 7, 2013 at 2:58 am

    Love it, Nathan! And I can totally agree with every single statement. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
  38. e_journeys says

    June 7, 2013 at 4:02 am

    Love it.
    That would be, "Seeing typos makes you crazy," with an "s" added to "make."
    (That was a test, right?)

    Reply
  39. Mira says

    June 7, 2013 at 4:15 am

    Awesome, Nathan! Totally fun. πŸ˜€

    Reply
  40. Tammy Theriault says

    June 7, 2013 at 6:39 am

    LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!

    Reply
  41. Faith Mortimer says

    June 7, 2013 at 8:59 am

    The post got better and better! More and more funny…

    Reply
  42. Faith Mortimer says

    June 7, 2013 at 9:00 am

    Great fun- a blog post that got more hilarious the more I watched

    Reply
  43. Cecelia Dowdy says

    June 7, 2013 at 12:09 pm

    HILARIOUS!!!

    Reply
  44. Joanna says

    June 7, 2013 at 12:34 pm

    Thank you Nathan, as I sit here editing my novel for about the 20th (hopefully the LAST) time… your gif could not have come at a better time. Your perspective, perseverance and patience at all times, in all ways is a gift

    Reply
  45. Natasha Hanova says

    June 7, 2013 at 12:43 pm

    Perfect! And true.

    Reply
  46. Huntress, aka CD Coffelt says

    June 7, 2013 at 1:09 pm

    My first thought was: "Wow. How succinct. He covered every base."

    Then: "Oh crap. We *are* all alike."

    Reply
  47. lbombardier says

    June 7, 2013 at 4:41 pm

    Mm hm. Yup.

    Reply
  48. Sheena-kay Graham says

    June 7, 2013 at 5:09 pm

    This was awesome! Writers are a crazy bunch but we love what we do.

    Reply
  49. Bridgid Gallagher says

    June 7, 2013 at 5:35 pm

    Ha – that's great! Sad and funny (but mostly funny). I love the gif of Moss and Roy fist bumping – that's totally how it is when I meet writerly soul mates. πŸ™‚

    Reply
  50. Anonymous says

    June 7, 2013 at 5:45 pm

    Oh this is great…especially the part about ideas…WHY ARE YOU SNEAKING AROUND MY HOUSE IN THE CLOSETS!?!?! πŸ˜€ ahhaha

    Reply
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Hi, I’m Nathan. I’m the author of How to Write a Novel and the Jacob Wonderbar series, which was published by Penguin. I used to be a literary agent at Curtis Brown Ltd. and I’m dedicated to helping authors achieve their dreams. Let me help you with your book!

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