Dame Rinda
Field Study
By Dr. Unbar Aftnays PhD
Having spent many years observing various anthropoids, I have narrowed my field of study to one of the most fascinating and challenging ones, the writer on submission. Often inexplicably agitated and with odd, purposeless tendencies that undermine its own ability to focus, this creature displays an abnormal behavioral pattern this doctor finds most disturbing. Helpless to put the female subject at ease, I can only observe and take notes on the five habits which I’ve been unable to understand.
- Obsessive Blog Stats Checking: This member of the Hominoidea family has a blog that doesn’t allow her to see how a specific visitor arrives. She can, however, see if anyone has found her from a name search. This sends the author to another program called Statcounter where she notes the possible location of the search. Using reason and deduction, she tries to determine which “name searchers” might have come from an area known to the majority of the species as New York City-a normal city, but one to which she seems to have attributed magical powers. (She will occasionally go back and forth, resulting in lost valuable writing time which then results in self-recrimination and longer “makeup” hours at night.)
- Inability To Go Anywhere Without a Phone: Inside, outside… into the bathroom. And if she’s not at home, her cell phone is on high vibration in her pocket. If accidentally left in her purse, she fumbles around, mumbling “Please, please, please,” before frantically squinting at the caller ID. (This inevitably results in a slight slump of the shoulders and a moment of silence and gritted teeth before she answers. This professor admits to feeling sorry for those on the other end at times.)
- Pays Extreme Attention to New Deal Announcements: In the beginning, mornings were spent searching blogs for announcements, which in turn resulted in searches for publishers, editors and agents involved. Luckily, this tendency seems to have mostly disappeared. (On the rare occasions it resurfaces, she falls victim to an odd breakout across her nose and chin-a possible allergic reaction to any book announcements with similar sounding plots.)
- Weekly Reassurance Emails and Phone Calls: Luckily, my subject has a good two or three outlets for stress relief and reassurance since she can’t seem to kick the intense need for reminders that no, her writing does not suck.
- Extra Mind Numbing Substances on Fridays: While she enjoys the occasional glass of red wine with dinner, she makes a beeline for the beverage early Friday evenings once a specific time of day has passed. She lifts her glass toward her mate and announces, “Another week bites the dust.” This extra beverage intake can get out of hand and lead this normally bipedally inclined anthropoid to suffer an evolutionary backslide into quadrupedal movement and loss of working opposable thumbs.
I plan to continue my studies, but must admit that I too, look forward to the receipt of that call. I’ve grown fond of the anthropoids in this creature’s community and want for them what will surely end up being, a “brief” time of peace and celebration before her next piece of work goes out on submission.
——————-
Yes, Dame Rinda, is currently one of the Dames on Submission. Technically, we all are at different times, so this could apply to well… anyone! Eek. I’m currently waiting on my first book length sale and have learned that if there is one thing from which a newly submitted writer can benefit, it’s patience.
Since I don’t yet have books to give away in our celebration launch, I designed custom mugs with matching ceramic coasters for those days you need a little extra caffeine and an empowering message. Works for writers and readers, because in this world, there always seems to be a deadline, yes? It says, “My deadline doesn’t stand a chance!”
You get to pick either sized mug with a matching coaster in the design of your choice and all you have to do is share an odd habit. Have some fun with it! (Or, if that design doesn’t work for you, you can instead pick from one of these cool travel mugs–several work great for readers, too!)
I’ll choose a winner by random number generator and you have until midnight January 30th to comment. Devon will announce the winner in Saturday’s list of winners. Good luck and I hope you love our new site!!
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Tags: deadline dames, deadlines, Rinda Elliott, urban fantasy, writers, writing
An odd habit??? Gee, I think all my habits are kind of odd. But then again, they are just simply odd, not odd-odd.
When it comes to writing stories, for I want to be a writer someday, hopefully after I finish up at college and take some writing classes and get some tips, I tend to hand-write a lot of the details and scenes in a story in my notebook that I tend to carry around everywhere I go, only to go back later and type it. Sometimes though I look at what I wrote and think, no, that’s not right, and end up typing something entirely different.
I don’t know if you want to call that odd, writing everything down by hand to only go back later and re-type it all either word for word or change it.
Yeah, that’s not that odd. Honestly I don’t know if any of my habits can be considered odd. People call me weird, but that’s usually based on how I act.
I plan ahead a lot. When I know of a certain event happening on an exact date, I start making all these plans even if that date is months off. I make sure to request off work like 3 months in advance and I start looking at travel plans and hotel rates. But again, is that really odd?? To me it might be a little odd or weird.
I’m not normal that’s for sure, but to me my habits are not that odd. My behavior might be, but that’s another story!
I am so fearful of locking my keys in my car that I have to hold them in my hand until I shut the door. If I put them in my purse because I have to get some bags out of the back, I check my purse several times to make sure they’re still there.
Margay
I have a daughter that writes and a husband that writes. You have nailed it perfectly. Loved it.
Haha! This was hilarious, Rinda. Great first post!
Something odd I’ve been doing lately when in the midst of writing or revising is…forgetting to eat. Usually lunch is the meal that gets forgotten by the wayside. Whoops.
I do the key thing, too, Margay!
I’m very particular so I have a lot of habits that I suppose others may think of as odd… Nothing too out there, at least, I don’t think so.
Oh. This IS odd. When I am VERY upset, like sobbing-inconsolably upset, I find a small corner of the room and curl up into a little ball and sit there until I stop wailing. Shut the door, wedge myself somewhere, like between the weight machine and the wall in front of the closet. When I get like that my husband knows to just find another room cuz my brain is toast.
I’m sure I should be much more embarrassed by this than I am. What can I say? I never learned proper coping skills.
I often like to have non breakfast foods for breakfast and I do the whole knocking wood thing whenever I don’t want something jinxed }:)
Hee! Perfect, Rinda.
As I’m not eligible to enter, I think I’ll pass on sharing an odd habit… Not that I have many… *g*
I’m currently waiting to hear on a submission to a publisher, on a requested manuscript I sent to an agent, and the outcome of a couple of contests. The endless days of no response by email or phone can drive you mad. I keep an erotic poetry blog in an obscure adult community site and I post there when I need renewed faith in my writing. A small group of faithful readers encourage and keep me going through the silence.
I think the only one of these I don’t do at the moment is checking new deal notices. Oh yeah, I definitely carry a phone with me at all times.
Another habit I think should be included on this list is obsessively checking e-mail. I do that … um … a lot more often than I realistically should. That’s all I’m going to admit to on that.
Best,
~Jen
Some people chew on their nails. My odd habit is that I chew on my pinkie fingers and have the callouses to prove it. I don’t even notice when I do it most of the time either. Very odd.
Dame Rinda, have you been peeping in my windows? *bwahahaha* Odd habits… Long, hot showers. I mean REALLY long showers. Empty the hot water tank showers. So long as I’m the only one home, this isn’t a big deal but when the three humans (my family refuses to call me human when I’m a Writer in Waiting) who live here want hot water? Yes. I get in a bit of hot water with them.
Oh, lord that was bad. Coffee. I need coffee like whoah! And a mug to put in it…
Congrats on your debut, Dame Rinda. Wonderful bit of musing!
I work in athletics so I have a lot of little habits and superstitions. Like we have a big statue of a Husky (our mascot) and I have to go rub its nose before every football game and most of the basketball and hockey games. I know it doesn’t actually control the outcome of the game but i HAVE to do it.
Best of luck with the waiting Dame Rinda!
Now, you didn’t say the odd habit had to be one of our own… so I have to share this one. I have two cats. Both of which are males and tend to think they are both king of the kingdom. If I am at this desk working away on an email or a piece for my creative writing group or a book review they are always near. Just when I’m thisclose to being finished one of them inevitably gets up, walks in front of the monitor and plants his fat butt just so that I cannot see what I was working on. This then break down into me grumbling and saying “Move [insert name here] mommy is working!” to which I get THAT look, you know, the one that says ‘you are my minion, you will finish this drivel when I say you will’.
Gotta love the furry monsters that… sorry had to move a feline hiney… where was I? ;D
I currently live in a neighborhood with an alley and all the garages face the alley. When I leave, I close my garage door with the remote. But mah brain can not remember if I closed the freaking door, so I have to drive in reverse, in the alley, to see that the door is shut. I’ve never once left it open, but I have to check EVERY TIME.
Love the post, Dame Rinda! And I can’t wait for you to get the call so I start calling you again.
A coke first thing in the morning. People used to stick their hand around the door with a Coke, nothing else, first thing in the morning. Now the refrigerator is just stocked with a 24 pack.
I didn’t tell anyone I was writing at first. Because I had stopped and started so many times before, particularly after I announced I was actually going to do it. So, I decided to keep it on the down low because I was afraid I’d jinx myself.
Carpe Diem turned into Carpe Nox since that’s when I get to write in peace.
Great post. I am obsessive about making sure appliances are turned off. I have been on my way to work and wondered if I turned off my curling iron and I have turned around and went back home to see if I have.
*gigglesnort* I just figured out the anagram, Rinda. You clever, clever girl!
I have soooo been there!
Odd Habit??? Hmmmm, well my husband tells me I am just odd all the time, but and odd habit… I have to think on that one. Well, at work I have a habit of stapling the papers in the middle of the page. I took me over a year to break that habit and at times I still do. Old habits die hard, I guess, or maybe they just don’t die at all? Well, I could probably come up with a better one if I think longer and harder. I will have to see if anything else comes to my mind.
An odd habit? I of course dont’ have any, but my husband has millions. For example, he has to put his shoes on right foot first, every time.
Rinda – great post! I can’t wait to be this neurotic–er, to have a reason to be this neurotic.
I think I’ve mentioned this before on my LJ, but every time I pluck my eyebrows, I can’t resist boinging the tweezers against my index finger and holding them up to my ear like a tuning fork. It’s sort of fun. *snort*
My middle name is “Odd”. One of my odd habits is to say “Be the Good Lord willin’ and the crik don’t rise” before I go anywhere. I feel like I have to say this in case something happens before I reach my destination.
My own habits are all perfectly normal. *ahem* But my husband does go around sighing nonsense words. He does it all the time, but more so when he’s stressed. Sometimes it’s just a howl (ah-oooh); sometimes, it sounds like it should be a word or name. (The words change over time, but his favorite now seems to be “meeala.” Unsure of the spelling. LOL)
Heehee! Awesome post, Dame Rinda. I have so been there, and, um continue to revisit…
Oh, the joys of submission. Ack!
Odd habit? Hmm. Er. Um. Ah…
Crap. I don’t know. **frets**
Well…I have to have things in the middle. Things of mine have to be centered or I get bent out of shape. Also I count surfaces, the bricks or panels on walls, and I need it to come out with an even number. My perents say I have OCD but *shrugs*
Great post Rinda.
You guys are cracking me up. Okay, Renee, I laughed out loud at the tuning fork image.
Silver, I was wondering if anyone would catch my anagram dorkiness.;)
Robert–a LOT of writers have OCD in some form or another. The ones who turn that obsessive behavior into finishing books do quite well.
And I share a lot of these habits. Too fun, you guys-thanks for sharing!
Hee. I love this post. My odd habit involves checking on my kids every night before I go to bed. They’re 9 and 7, but EVERY NIGHT I creep in their rooms and put a hand on their chests to make sure they’re still breathing. I can’t help it – I’ve done it ever since I brought them home from the hospital and I imagine I’ll do it until they leave home! XD
Great post. =D
I swear, most everything I do can be considered odd. I organize my books and movies in odd ways rather than by name, (movies are by type, disney ones by color within that, and books are finally put organized to my liking with all of any said author’s books together). I put my shoes on right foot first, Heck, I even hang my sweaters by style- zip-ups, hoodies, non hoodies. Lol. There’s so many more, but I’ll just stop at that before anyone decides to hunt me down to study. lol.
Enjoyed your post, Rinda!
My odd habit is that I make up cartoon-like voices for my pets and speak for them.
OH. MY. GOSH. You just described me to a tee. And a few other writers I know *cough* Kaz *cough*.
Too funny. I will check my statcounter and pinpoint every stinkin’ visitor to my blog. Ugh! I’m embarassed to talk about it.
I have the habit of wearing my socks halfway on so they flop about when I walk.
Great Post!
Nice work, Doc. I hope you keep us up to date with your findings. I suspect that they will resonate with a lot of people!
My habit is to read while watching tv. This results in some kind of mixed up plots every once in a while, especially when the show is in the same genre as the book. There are some authors out there whose stories are suspiciously similar to SG1 and BSG episodes…
I used to have a lip ring that I would twirl around, it creeped people out, but I had to get rid of it to look more respectible. So now i just chew on my lips, which makes them chapped, then I would have to use chapstick. I freak out if I can’t find my chapstick. I can’t focus on anything else until i have it in my hands.
Rinda, I loved your study!! I haven’t cracked up laughing like that in quite some time. Hah! I do love this website and well to be honest, when it comes to writing I have two habits that are weird. Real life ones are too many and inappropriate.
1.I pretend to be my characters like for real, make belief and the likes just to see how a scene can work.
2. I always start a story or continue one on Mondays. I have to start writing on Monday or I can’t do it properly.
I’m an obsessive hand cleaner. I’m always washing or using hand sanitizer. My hands stay so dry because of it, but at least their clean. LOL
Deidre
This was a great post.
I’m sure everyone feels like that when it invovles some kind of submission process.
Dear Rinda,
I enjoyed reading your post. I can’t write worth spit which will explain why I don’t own or want a cellphone.When I leave my work, home, or go anywhere…I don’t want to be found!
I, however, love to read and devour books like a locust.
Have A Great Day!
Maria
Heh…odd writing habits. I pace when I’m stumped. My poor husband will watch me wander the house feverishly talking to myself and then suddenly go ‘aha’ and wander back into the computer room.
Good post. Made me giggle.
~Jana
An odd habit? Tough. Ever since I was a kid I would not walk through the house without turning on lights in each room as I made my way around. Then taking the same route back to my room, and turning them off.
I’m trying to break this habit, but it’s hard since I’m scared of the dark! ha
I check to ensure all doors are locked at bedtime, multiple times. I also push and pull on the door.
After I take a drink of something, I sometimes hold it in my mouth for a while before I swallow it. I’ll be in the other room a few minutes later realizing that I still have coffee in my mouth. Weird, huh?
Does Dr. Aftnays have any plans to convince David Attenborough to come out of retirement for a documentary on this? I’m sure a pitch to BBC would be quite popular. If it goes to air, think of the successful grant funding to further the research! She may even get a project grant, and then she could expand her study to include another humanoid biped, the newly contracted writer. It’s such an exciting field of study and would be a great extension of her first area of research.
I’m not sure about it being the most odd, but one of my odd habits is to stick out my tongue when I’m concentrating. If something doesn’t work right the first time, so I switch sides and viola! Success! Obviously my tongue wasn’t poking out of the correct side.
It defies science and logic but it works.
Lol! Wow. I have a lot to look forward to during the aweful, dreaded wait during the submission prossess eh? I know one thing I will be doing-sleeping. Don’t tell anyone (that’s where I get my best ideas)! This is my odd habit, napping when pressed for ideas.
Thanks for the laughs, Rinda! Oh my gosh that is so funny! I can imagine it all. I have a lot of minor habits, but one of my oddest would be tweezing. No mirror, just sitting in front of the computer trying to unravel a plot or dilemna while I mindlessly search for a random hair on my chin. Yes, I actually said it. LOL A cute habit is that I not only kiss my little boy goodnight, but I also kiss my white kitty, Dixie on the head every night and saying nite, baby girl.
Odd habbits…Hmm.
Well, when I’m working on something, or have to remember anything in general, I leave sticky notes.
Not one or two a day, more like half a pack a day. Or more on an especially compulsive day. Heh.
I leave them everywhere. Drives people nuts, but it keeps me on track.
So…what special ringtone did you give Miriam? ;P
Go on. Ask me. o/` You know you want to. o/`
Oh Chandra. I do now have a special ringtone. It’s an old Four Non Blondes hit. Something about “What’s going on?” LOL! I think you knew that!
But I’m weird. My hubby’s is It’s Business Time from Flight of the Conchords. Rachel’s is the theme from Kill Bill. And my daughter is the Oompa Loompa song.
What’s yours????
And I must say that I am simply LOVING these answers. I’ve been chuckling all day!
Yeah, I do some of that
I’m not out on submission yet, well… I guess I kind of am. I have a short story in to a fantasy magazine and am waiting to hear back if they want it.
I’m compulsive about checking the mail, and my email, and my LJ and my online writing group. I try and keep that habit in check when I’m actually trying to write because I’ll find myself getting distracted easily.
Great post!
Greatly enjoyed!!
Odd habits hmmm, let me see.
There’s only one that I can think of.
When I eat something it has to be in an even amount. I’m especially bad with peanut M & M’s. I eat them in twos and usually the two have to be the same color. Oh, and I always eat the brown colored ones last, LOL!
Weird I know.
Enjoyed your post! I have a habit of checking to make sure my stove is turned off and my doors are locked at night. I’ll do this several times.
LOL. I resemble this study, I’m afraid. Every since the query letters went out, and particularly the partial currently under review, I am obsessive about email. In face, I don’t trust my email program to have retrieved my messages, so if I go too long without any email I open the webmail version just to make sure.
Great post, Rinda! I hope to someday experience this myself…
Well, my odd habit (the ONLY one, of course) is that when I make a sandwich, for example PB & J, the PB and the J have to cover every millimeter of the exposed surface of the bread. I think it tastes better that way. My husband just thinks I’m weird… ; )
Too funny, Rinda!
Let’s see…an odd habit…hmm.
Maybe not too odd, but I love to brainstorm a novel (or scene) with a really sharp #2 pencil & paper. There’s something great about the scritchy pencil feel across on the page. And since it’s pencil, it’s impermanent. Which means it doesn’t have to be correct. And not having to be correct allows me to explore odd tangents without the stress of getting it “perfect” the first time. But this only seems to work when I use a pencil.
Okay…maybe that is odd…
Very fascinating study! The professor might be interested in looking into some other areas:
1) Rearranging bookshelves to make room for more research materials – that takes up a considerable amount of time throughout the year.
2) Taxationitis – struggling to justify another year of book and conference dues right-offs without proof of serious publication.
3) Related to #2 – The split-personality, 2-Faces of Eve, problem: Hobbyist or Serious Writer?
4) Affirmania – taking the self-affirmation to the point of delusion.
It’s great to be able to smile at our foibles. It’s either that or go nuts or fall into despair.
I have a deadline problem – feeling like if I don’t meet certain career deadlines that I must not be a serious writer. I see my wonderful friends moving forward in their careers – look at what’s happened to Gena Showalter. Once, she and I met together as critique partners, struggling with the same issues of juggling jobs and ambitions to write. Now, I’m still in the same place and she’s soared so high. I am thrilled for her and have never had a moment of jealousy. However, it is hard to see how much I have yet to accomplish when I know I have the stories inside of me bursting to come out. Is it truly just a matter of bad timing or is it lack of discipline, laziness, some Freudian impulse to ambush my ambitions for fear of failure, etc.
I remember when RWA had a discussion several years ago about hobbyists overtaking some chapters, and that’s what kept the amateurs and professionals at separate meetings. I have to admit, that discussion had a profound impact on me. It was about that time that I started missing meetings, feeling shamed that I had not produced more finished manuscripts, much less finaled in a contest or sent in a Golden Heart entry. Though I NEVER EVER felt any of this from my fellow OKRWA members (the very best group of people I’ve had the blessing to meet), I still felt that pressure. I still worried whenever I responded to questions about career or writing – “Hey, I’m really just a hobbyist, so who cares what I think.”
It’s hard to keep facing your friends, maintaining that you seriously do want a career, but year after year having little to nothing to show for it. Only good intentions but with the same old excuses – I need to work overload to pay bills, I’ve been ill, I have no energy to write at the end of the day. The excuses get old, you get embarrassed for having to repeat them, and soon, you don’t attend as often as you once did.
I have to tell myself that maybe I won’t be able to write until I retire from teaching. And that’s okay. By keeping in the game, I’m educating myself, keeping in touch with other writers (and that’s such an energizing experience), and most importantly I am keeping the dream alive. If we don’t have dreams, then those deadlines are merely deadlines, not goals, not achievements, not triumphs. Just weights that send us to the bottom of the ocean. And unless Orlando Bloom is really a sexy elven merman waiting to turn me into his mermaid bride then whisk me away to his underworld palace where we live in aquatic bliss swimming with the dolphins, it’s the last place I want to be.
My oddest habit is that I play with my hair. I have done this for as long as I can remember and my parents tried everything to make me stop. They cut it really short because I always had my fingers in it, but this did not work it just caused me to twist it. Still to this day, I have never been able to break myself of this habit and my Grandpa used to say to me quite often…”Are you playing with you hair?”
I write best with big, heavy rings on my fingers. The occasionally ‘clack’ when one of those brushes the keyboard or the mouse is strangely soothing.
Odd habit, eh? Okay. I’m OCD about my bed–the blankets have to be perfectly aligned, the sheet tucked into the bottom, the pillows just so to comfort, cushion, and surround me with their pillowy goodness. If I don’t straighten the bed out every night then I don’t sleep. Period.
The article was spot-on. I really enjoyed reading it–was he watching me?
I have had this weird habit ever since I was little of turning my clothing inside out when I take it off. That’s actually good for things like black t-shirts, because they get washed inside out and there’s less fading. But what’s funny is when I was wearing long johns under my jeans (I like in Minneapolis), because the underwear ends up on the outside, and I often end up with my socks rolled up in my pant leg. Don’t know how I do that!
The other thing I do is when I shop at a bookstore, I compulsively straighten the shelves. Face a book out here, re-alphabetize something there. . . I worked at bookstores for six years, so that’s why!
I have no problem with #2 – sorry, wait a minute, I think I feel my phone vibrate!
Isn’t #3 something like what we are doing now? Looking for a new deal (or coffee mug)?
This brings me back to #1 and the other things I am supposed to be doing at this time…
Odd habits? But they’re all perfectly normal. All of mine, anyway. Especially since I see some others have them, too. I mean, who *doesn’t* think better with the tongue stuck out the corner of their mouth?
*thinks*
Does having a bag with half a dozen notebooks and pens stashed in the car so I can always grab something to write with when I go somewhere count?
When I hit one of my serious deadline seasons in my freelance work last year, I became a frequent facebooker. I have a number of games that I play on facebook that require me to check them. Often. Constantly? So when I’m stressed (or just don’t want to use a lot of brain power), I end up back on facebook, keeping up with my games, making sure all my electronic critters are fed and that my towers haven’t been conquered by invading armies.
This, one might note, is neither writing nor productive. I haven’t yet figured out how to wean myself out of the habit though, especially since I use facebook for networking with friends as well. And once I’m on, I might as well just play a few rounds….
Loved the post. You’re so creative.
Habits, whipped cream on my coffee when I have a day off. I watch birds, sip coffee and journal and read the paper first thing on my days off, unless I have to go somewhere early, which I try not to do on those days.
My daughter is a writer and some of those fit her to a T
Unfortunately she is also OCD so her odd habits can take over sometimes. At least she writes stories I anjoy reading so that makes up for the rest 
Rin–You really crack me up. And I can’t wait to read that first sold book of yours. You are a woman with LOTS to say.
I do however have some suggestions you can read on what to do WHILE YOU WAIT FOR THE INEVITABLE. And it’s on my website’s FOR WRITERS page. An article for the VIRGIN author. (“Virgin” may not apply but the “author” definitely does.) Put your energies into distracting things that will help WHEN you sell. Visualize the sale…BE the sale. Build it and they will come.
Along with he keys thing and biting my nails, if my son is in his car seat, I won’t shut all of the doors until I’m in the car too. I’ll strap him in, open the driver’s side door, and then shut the back door. Even if I have the keys clutched in my hand, I guess I’m afraid that they suddenly won’t work.
Always double check to make sure the door is locked when I leave the house, and must always have my cell phone with me everywhere.
I can hardly wait to be waiting in submission. That said, WHEN????
Thank you for your article.
I very much enjoyed your post…
I spent 20 minutes laughing at your designs at cafe press. I love this one
http://images.cafepress.com/jitcrunch.aspx?bG9hZD1ibGFuayxibGFuazo5Nl9GX2MxLmpwZ3xsb2FkPUwwLGh0dHA6Ly9pbWFnZXMzLmNhZmVwcmVzcy5jb20vaW1hZ2UvMTU0OTkzOTNfNDAweDQwMC5qcGd8fHNjYWxlPUwwLDE0NCwxNDQsV2hpdGV8Y29tcG9zZT1ibGFuayxMMCxBZGQsMTY5LDE2OHxjcD1yZXN1bHQsYmxhbmt8c2NhbGU9cmVzdWx0LDAsNDgwLFdoaXRlfGNvbXByZXNzaW9uPTk1fA==
I have an odd habit, I have always had static zaps.
It can be humid out and I will still get zapped. I am a static carrier.
Sooo that said here it is.
When I lay down to go to sleep with it all dark in the room **I really am not evil** I like to pet my cats then touch there noses to see the spark.
Hummm can that saying go on a mug?? lol
So true, especially the Friday night after a certain hour. My proposed future editor is in Toronto, however, another city with magical powers.
Loved the post!
Very Interesting post Rinda,
I spent 20minutes looking at your designs at cafe press.. omg some are too funny.
http://images6.cafepress.com/product/352615776v7_240x240_Front.jpg
Ok my odd habit…
Well my entire life I have had static.
It can be humid and I will have static.
I am a static carrier..
That said here is my odd habit.
At night when I have laid down to go to sleep,
and the room is dark. I pet my cat, then **I am not evil really** I touch its nose to see the spark.
(This is my second try to post.. I hate it when you have click submit and bam it disappears)
Odd habit… Hmm.
Well, I have anxiety issues. So I have this whole ritual I have to go through before I can fall asleep. I turn the fan on (even when it’s freezing cold), turn music on low, get under the covers laying on my stomach, and focus on the music until I’m relaxed enough to sleep. If I don’t do all that, I’ll be up for hours not able to sleep.
An odd habit…. when I wake up way too early in the morning, I tend to chatter about weird things when still lying in bed with the boyfriend and I more often then not weird him out but he’s slowly getting used to it. Especially the time when I started talking about my friend John’s new penis (when it actually was his freshly acquired driver licence I refered to). It was an inside joke that he hadn’t heard so the boyfriend found it very destabilising to be talked to of other guy’s penis. *snorts*
I think I may be one giant odd habit wrapped in a tiny package with a very, very short fuse just waiting to blow. The lamp has to be on along with the living room light, dining room light, and porch light (yet I’m no where near outside), my Coca-Cola mug and glass of water must be on the table by my cache of pens and phone. Then I can write. : )
By the way, the “hero in training” outfits on that sight were adorable. My son thanks whoever designed them, or he will when the order goes through and the package arrives!
Thanks, Jackie B! I designed those for a romance writer friend who was gifted with a beautiful baby boy after a long time trying. She gave him a name that means hero, and I thought these would work for all baby boys, so I put them in the store.
Linda, that has to be one of my favorites. I wear it on a hoody–used to wear it to the kids’ karate place where there were all these gorgeous people practing Thai kick boxing…
Everyone, I’m so glad you enjoyed my post. Yes, it is supposed to be humorous so no worries–had a few people email with tips on how to better spend my wait. LOL! I’ve been writing, of course.
You all rock!
Fun post! My odd habit: picking up every single fallen penny or nickel or dime I see on the sidewalk. I put them all on a glass table. Right now I have at least 50. For luck, I say!
Great post! I have a habit of triple checking my door locks every time I leave the house!
A coworker often eats canned vegetable soup for lunch. She always eats in a proscribed order – all the peas, all the carrots, broth and leaves the potato chunks for last.
When I saw “The Mirror Has Two Faces” I had a huge epiphany. I’m a “perfect bite” eater! At holiday dinners I have to get seconds of turkey and corn, just so I can finish off the potatoes for the perfect bite of turkey, mashed potatoes, and corn! The same applies for some other favorite meals.
Well, I can’t think of an odd habit at the moment, not sure if I have any…or maybe I myself am just odd so all my habits are odd to others but normal to me….I’ll have to give that some thought.
Anyway, I just wanted to say great post, and I went and looked at the designs and the travel mugs. I’m definatly going to have to get me some of those come pay day.
So thanks again for the great post, and the great designs.
ROTFLMAO! Ok – I’m there… Right now – awaiting the outcome of my first novel on submission with the first agent (my first choice, no less) who requested it – yes, requested it…
Luckily I’ve been in this game for awhile – writing, that is – so I’ll take the outcome with grace, nobility and a zen-like feeling of “what will be, will be”. But, I’m hoping for the best outcome…
I really, absolutely loved this post! Well done… I needed to hear about others going through the same thing!
I haven’t tried to have my writing published yet, so I have a feeling I will understand/empathize more with your list once I get to that stage.
My odd habit is that I talk to the TV. It annoys my family and they don’t like watching TV with me. I also quote the movie or TV show right along with it if I’ve seen it before, which also bothers them. I can’t help it though. It’s hard to keep quiet if I’m really into the show.
wolf110, I’ve been at this game a long time myself. Went the submission round for years without an agent–not something I recommend to anyone, btw. But this is a long time coming, so I’m not handling it in a zen-like state, but I’m certainly not as bad as this humorous post either. LOL! Hope you get good news soon, too!
[...] gone through a few stages throughout this wait on my Beri series sale. (Wrote some of it in a humorous post at the Dames site.) At first, there was the thrill of getting all that attention in one week. [...]
[...] very first post here was a humorous one about the habits of the waiting writer. Very tongue in cheek, but some of it [...]