By Sean Tuohy

If you’re a writer, odds are you’ve had a few of these thoughts run through your head at one time or another.

“I Need To Remember That for My Book!”

Every day, you’ll talk to someone who will give you a great line of dialogue that resonates with you and starts turning the gears in your head immediately.

“Where’s My Pad and Pen? Where Is It? Ah, I Forgot It!”

No big deal, I’ll carve it into the flesh of my arm.

“How Did This Happen?”

We’ve all been there. You need to research something quickly and head to the Internet. Unless you’re really focused, this can get out of hand quickly. You start at Point A and end at Point What the Hell Am I Doing. “How did this happen?” leads to other things like, “I need to find out what kind of cars they drive in Peru, and I now know everything about the 1986 World Cup.”

“I Need His Looks for the Bad Guy.”

Ever been in public and spot a person who has the look or personality that you want one of your characters to have? And then study this person like Jane Goodall watching gorillas? You peer at them from around corners, make notes about how they open doors, and become an all-around creep. Oh, and people notice all of this.

“I Really Like Her Face, But Hate Everything Else About Her. I’m Just Gonna Write About Her Face.”

You know who else thinks these things while looking at other humans? Serial killers.

“I Hate You.”

All writers have to face the blank page. You’ve spent weeks and months planning, outlining, and researching for this moment and now you have nothing. So you hate the blank page the same way Captain Kirk hates Klingons. “I hate you! I hate you! Stop laughing at me!”

“Oh, I Should Have…”

Sadness hits writers really hard. Sadness is then followed by self-doubt, which normally leads to, “I should have gone to law school.”

“This is the Best Thing I’ve Ever Written!”

But you always bounce right back and start working on your story again.

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