Let's Play a Game: Writer or Crazy?

Y'know, sometimes I feel like being a writer is just a more socially acceptable way of dealing with my psychoses. Not only do I hear made-up people's voices in my head (schizophrenia) but sometimes I read a chapter I wrote and feel elated and read the same chapter two days later and feel devastated by its crappiness (bi-polar disorder).

Confession: I talk to myself. A lot. Usually, I'm playing out bits of dialogue. But I do it in my apartment, on the sidewalk, in the shower.

I also stare out into space a good amount. Especially if I'm in outline mode or trying to figure out a particularly sticky plot point. Sometimes I think I'm staring out into space but am actually staring directly at someone's face. To those people who have inadvertently come into the crosshairs of my outlining crazy-eyes, I apologize. Profusely.

I smile or sometimes even laugh out loud when I finally hit upon a "eureka" moment in my story. This often happens in public. When I'm by myself.

Sometimes, I feel the need to bust a move in an empty elevator. This actually doesn't have much to do with me being a writer but as long as I'm being all confessional, I thought I'd just put that out there, too.

I also come home from a full-time job to do more voluntary work, at something that can sometimes make me feel more frustrated than anything else I'm doing and that can make me miss out on good TV, life-changing concerts, or just hanging out with friends.

Sometimes, I really relate to lyrics from the movie Flashdance. "Take your passion and make it happen."

Crazy or writer? Probably a little bit of both. But I wouldn't trade in making my passion happen for anything.

What a feeling!