#RealLifeWriter: Tabitha Caplinger

HI!!

I’m a writer. (I put that out there first because it still feels weird to say. I have no idea why but it does, and I’m all about embracing the awkward.) I write books. More specifically I wrote three books (the third one is releasing May 1st. EEK!). They are about sassy chicks who slay demons and love pie.

But all the book info will be part of the post somewhere so you don’t need me to say it all. Let’s get back to the being a writer thing. What does being a writer look like? What do writers do in their natural habitats?

I can’t speak for our species as a whole so I’ll just tell you about myself and my writing life. Maybe the easiest thing would be to walk through a typical writing day from start to finish.

Somewhere between 7 and 8 am: Wake up, brush teeth, take dogs outside.

Take kiddos to school

Make coffee. (Coffee is super important and no writing happens without the coffee.)

Eat breakfast while checking social media and email. Try not to get sucked into the social media vortex.

45 minutes later I realize I got sucked into the vortex.

Realize coffee has gotten cold. Reheat it.

Put social media away and spend some time with Jesus.

Grab laptop, get in comfy chair, prepare to write.

Stare at page for 20 minutes.

Reheat coffee.

Write some words.

Delete words.

Write words again.

Reheat coffee.

Stare at page again. Decide I need Inspiration so I go to Pinterest.

Get sucked into Pinterest vortex for 30 minutes.

Reheat coffee. (I don’t want to know how much radiation is involved in all the microwave reheats but I should probably have super powers at this point. I don’t which is a bummer.)

Pinterest worked and inspiration hits and I write a bunch of words that feel super awesome. Maybe it’s a chapter, maybe it’s 2? The point is words were written.

Tweet about the awesome books words that were written.

Intend to write more book words but realize I have to pick my kids up from school.

Toss in a couple bathroom breaks and a chocolate muffin or some Eggos and this is pretty much what a day focused on writing looks like for me. (Pretty glamorous, right?) Sometimes the words flow and I get a lot written. Sometimes I am lucky if a sentence is formed. Some days no writing happens because being a writer also means marketing and research and those things take time and energy too. Besides writing the books, my husband and I are youth pastors so some days all my attention goes to our ministry stuff. Some days it’s a mix of all of the above.

There is no right way to write. You don’t have to sit at a coffee shop, but you can. You don’t have to write every day, but it’s cool if you do. You don’t have to crank out 10,000 words a week as long as you write.

That’s really the key, to be a writer you have to write. Whatever the rest of your life looks like, you have to make time to write. Maybe it’s a few minutes here and there. Maybe it’s late at night or early in the morning when the rest of your house is asleep. Maybe it’s daily or maybe it’s once a week. There is no right way or time to do it but you have to write. Books don’t become books if you don’t make the time to write them. Trust me, I have tried wishing and dreaming my stories into existence and it doesn’t work. That kind of magic or technology hasn’t been discovered yet. So, you have to write.

Here’s the thing, writing is awesome and creating stories can be magical but it is also really hard. It is frustrating at times. It makes you vulnerable. And if you want to write and love writing and have a story that needs to be told (and your story needs to be told) then you can’t quit. It took me two years to finish my first book, and it’s not even that long. I’ve started a new project that I had hoped to finish in six months and it doesn’t look like I’m going to meet that deadline without a miracle. You’ll finish when you finish and that is okay. Grow some tenacity. Have some patience with yourself. Buy really good coffee because you deserve the expensive stuff. Write. That’s what I did for three books. It’s what I’m still doing. I can’t not write. Maybe that really does make me a writer.

More about The Chronicle of the Three: Eden Sword

The final showdown is fast approaching, and a grief-stricken Zoe is forced to count the cost of her destiny. As the losses mount, her strength wanes. Even if the Chosen find the Eden Sword in time, will Zoe be strong enough to wield it? Will she be able to stand against the darkness as the promised Daughter of the ancient prophecy? Or will she be consumed by the fear of her nightmares becoming real? Fear or faith? Even the Chosen must choose. In this final installment of The Chronicle of the Three, light and darkness collide as Zoe discovers there is more than one battlefield in this war.

Purchase a copy of Eden Sword
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Tabitha Caplinger is a wife, mom, youth pastor and professed tv addict. It’s seriously a problem but she doesn’t plan on getting help anytime soon. Mostly because she loves the stories. She can’t help but get lost in the worlds created and invested in the lives of the characters. She brings that same passion for the story to her own writing. The first book in her YA trilogy, The Chronicle of the Three: Bloodline, is currently available with the second book releasing in early 2017. Aside from writing and watching tv, Tabitha can be found singing off key and dancing in the kitchen or car with her two adorably sassy daughters and awesome husband who she thinks is kind of cute.