I’ve been a total weirdo since I was a kid. As I grew older and started with creative writing, many of those weird facets melded into writer quirks. At first, I tried to hide them. Now, though, I embrace them.

Top writer quirks

Despite what the world around us thinks, writer quirks are positive things, and I think they really speak volumes about our creativity! Here are some of the writer quirks I see in myself, even though I focus primarily on business content rather than creative writing.  Here are some of the main ones that I now own with pride:

• I collect notebooks, pens, and highlighters: At first, I wanted notebooks to be bound in leather. Then I became obsessed with spiral-bound ones. I started loving sparkly gel pens and went through about 1 000 of them. Now I’ve settled on multicolour ballpoint pens. As far as highlighters go, I really enjoy the no-smudge ones. I like the finer ones rather than the chunky ones. I’m particular about all of these beloved items!

• I love daydreaming about writing more than I love writing: This has gotta be a famous quirk amongst writers! I can spend 2 hours daydreaming about an introduction to an article, a chapter cliffhanger, or a CTA for a product description without even realizing just how much time has gone by.

• I read every book or website page with my writer’s hat on: I can never take off my writer hat, really. Everything I read, I start to admire the consistency, the tone, the subtle use of alliteration or humour, etc. It makes everything much more entertaining, though, I must say.

• I rip apart certain scenes in books I love to learn how they work: Regardless of WHY I love the scenes, I dissect them and try to learn how the writer made them so flawless. While I wouldn’t copy it since it’s someone else’s creation, I want to see how it happened so that I can keep it in the back of my mind to infuse the same strength into my writing in a unique way.

• I can’t write unless everything is perfect: This one is annoying, to be honest with you. It has to be quiet, but not too quiet. I have to have eaten, but not in a food coma. If I can’t create the exact writing conditions I need, I can’t get anything done. I feel like that’s part of the creative process, though, right?

Quirks are the best

While I’m the first to admit that these quirks are a little strange in some contexts, they also keep me clear in my identity. Even before I started writing, I was always a writer. These quirks started in my personality long before I wrote my first shaky story.

I know that all of you writers out there, professional writers or hobbyist writers, have your own. Do you feel like sharing? If so, please do so! I’m curious to see how typical mine are with other writers!

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