Happy Valentine’s Day: 10 Things I LOVE about Being a Writer by Ariella Papa

I’ve never been the biggest fan of Valentine’s Day. I guess I don’t like being told that I have to express my emotions on a certain day or have a corporate sponsor for my affections. Yet somehow, this is the second time the formidable girlfriend goddesses have  scheduled my turn for Valentine’s Day.  Last time, I outsourced with a guest post and put SEX in the title (everyone likes sex, V-day or not.) This time I decided to embrace the LOVE head on. It may be cheesy or precious, but sometimes that’s how love is.

Please tell me what you LOVE about writing and also how are you celebrating or avoiding the holiday in the comments.

1)                    Jammies – Not always but quite often, I work in my jammies. Who can argue with comfort?

2)                    Connection- There is nothing I love more than connecting with people. And even though I can be a bit socially awkward at times, when people read my work we are connected in a cool way.

3)                    Control – Have you seen the LEGO movie yet?  You should. And if you do, you will get what I mean. There is so little about life that I control, but the worlds I create in my stories, I do. I’m a benevolent dictator.

4)                    Community- I love talking with other writers in extremely nerdy ways about the craft. I love all the resources online and in the world for people like me

5)                    Just doing it – I have a love/hate with this one, much like going for a run. Sometimes I really have to drag myself to the chair to do it, but other times when I’m in it, there’s a perfect clarity and flow.

6)                    Just having done it- Again it’s just like running because I have a great sense of accomplishment when I’m done. And I might be sweaty.

7)                    Time travel- Stephen King talks about this in his awesome book “On Writing” but I like the idea of writing something here on this couch that gets to you there in that chair or wherever. Really, after you see the Lego Movie you should read his book (again).

8)                    Helping Myself Out- If I didn’t do this, I would have a lot of voices in my head and I wouldn’t know what to do with them. I never imagine the alternative.

9)                    Figuring Myself Out -When I read stuff that I wrote years ago, I am reminded of things and choices and history and it all leads to here.

10)                 Finding out about others -On more than a few occasions people have talked to me about something they never talked about before because of something I wrote. I truly love this. It goes back to connection.

So what do you love about writing? And what are you doing tonight?

I will be celebrating it like any other Friday with an inhouse date night with my favorite date. Perhaps there will be more wine than usual. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Ariella Papa likes homemade Valentines and prefers cheese to chocolate. Her latest novel A Semester Abroad is the perfect read for ANY day in February.