Do all authors have crazy things they do?

Well I don’t know about all but I will say most that I know do. Every author that I have met has some unique quirk or something they do that makes its way into their writing or even helps with it. Like talking to themselves and acting out imaginary scenarios about– well everything. Or hoarding notebooks promising to actually write down their ideas… someday. Some may have three playlists and/or a “mood” board for one character. Some even become super human. I’ve met a few who flip the off switch on their Basic Needs, going three days without food or sleep (the latter being the most commonly dragged out, deemed a “waste of time” and justified with “half their life spent sleeping” ect.). Are they crazy? Wellll… I prefer the term Creatively Quirky.

A dear friend of mine has stated she has an imaginary closet in her head where her story ideas and files are stacked away. I think there are a few who do that literally (whether on a desktop or on paper). I am one of those few–kind of. Almost…but not really.

Let me introduce you to one of my biggest creative quirks, The Crazy Wall! Hold your applause until the very end please.

My crazy wall started about a year ago when I was planning my first book. My writing teacher at the time told us to try getting our ideas out and down somewhere, and she suggested making a board where we can stick our ideas. That assignment sparked my now full fledged creative quirk. I did have a cork board at my disposal, but why use that when I had a perfectly plain white wall right in front of me? You see, I have a wall. One out of the four walls that make up my cave–bedroom– in which I exist. This wall sits right above my desk, which happens to be where I write. Do you see where my brain went with this? So, this wall had been promoted from normal boring wall to wall that would now hold everything in a creatively quirky fashion that would possibly make me look kinda crazy to others. In short, The Crazy Wall.

My Crazy Wall is plastered with sticky notes and ripped up papers. These papers contain all sorts of things, ideas for writing, ideas for drawing, must get books, analyses, pictures, drawings, lists, goals, quotes, and things I must remember. And before you ask, yes I've tried a planner, it doesn’t work for me; I can’t keep up with it. Yes I’ve tried notebooks, but I only get pretty ones and then I remember my messy handwriting and can’t write in them. Don’t ask me why, I have no idea. Besides I never have the same notebook on me all the time, but I always have paper of some kind and the nearest writing utensil I can grasp.

Now I want to point out that everyone has their own way of organizing things, or un-organizing things. Many creative people I know do better in a mess, while some simply can’t handle a mess and everything must be in alphabetical order. I think I fall somewhere in the middle, everything has a place, though it definitely is not neat to most people. And everything must be in color order. Completely different. But I will not lie to you and say my crazy wall is neat and in color order yet. It has eluded my organization attempts and just ends up becoming crazy once more. But I have attempted to give it some order which I will show you below. Please enjoy these photos of my new try at being a semi-organized human being. So ta da! Now you may applaud.

I feel my Crazy Wall is a good quirky fit for me. It does its job of helping me get my ideas down, which is something I am trying to get better at, and somehow it doesn’t overwhelm me (unlike when the ideas stay in my head). I think that's because it helps to know I didn’t forget about all these things, but at the same time they aren’t jumping out at me like they all need to be done at once. Instead they sit there patiently, just waiting to be done. And that's enough for me. I know I’m not the first to have a Crazy wall and I won't be the last, if this sounds like it could be beneficial to you I implore you to try it! Just make sure you know the different ways to stick it on the wall before punching a bunch of holes in it, tape works just as well, but you do you. Thanks for reading my rant on my Crazy Wall!