I don’t often think about “being a writer” because it’s simply who I am and how I look at the world.

However, you know you’re a writer when…

You see stories everywhere

From snippets of overheard conversations, to coming up with entire personal histories for random strangers, I’m always in “imagination mode.”

Beyond bargain hunting, I enjoy going to thrift stores/charity shops because they’re filled with stories.

An inscription in an old book, and a baby’s first Christmas ornament.

Teacups and saucers in long-discontinued patterns. Pressed glass pickle dishes, Victorian celery jars and silver salt cellars.

Sparkly boots that aren’t made for walking!

All these and more are rich fodder for my writer’s life.

You obsess over word choices

While it’s no secret that word choice matters, being a writer takes that choosing to another level.

When working on edits recently, I spent at least five minutes deliberating over whether a character should kneel, crouch or stoop!

You go down research rabbit holes

A passion for research isn’t unique to writers, but it’s certainly something that writers, especially those writing historical fiction, can happily spend hours immersed in.

For A Small Town Family Christmas, my latest Jen Gilroy sweet contemporary romance for Harlequin Heartwarming, I have more Christmas cookie recipes than I’ll ever use in fiction or real life because…I slid down a research rabbit hole.

I also did so much research about Christmas tree farms that Facebook now fills my timeline with targeted advertisements.

And for a minor textual reference in The Teacher’s Secret, next in my Rose Warner WW2 British home front Teacher Evacuees series, I recently spent an inordinate amount of time researching hospital blues, the uniform worn by many British servicemen in wartime military hospitals.

You think spending much of your time with fictional characters who don’t actually exist is normal

As I write their stories, I live alongside my characters, so it feels normal to share in their hopes and fears as I would with family and friends.

And in some ways, my fictional characters are as real to me as people in my everyday life.

An imaginary world

Being a writer means spending your working life in an imaginary world which non-writers, my family included, often find hard to understand.

Tech Guy, though, knows who I am and barely raised an eyebrow when I returned home with my latest vintage find, a mid-twentieth century Skyway tweed suitcase in pristine condition.

I’ll use the case for storage/décor, but when I spotted it in a local thrift store, an entire story popped into my head.

And while you can’t put a price on creative inspiration, for $12.00 CDN ($9.00 USD / £6.00 GBP), I think I got a pretty good deal!