"You were playing games?" she asked, pointing to the suspicious scribbles that looked very much like the sort of games you'd play when you are by your lonesome self waiting for the nurse at the doctor's office to call your name.
And you know what? Martian Kitty believed me. It may have been because the novel I am currently writing has very epic, creepy sci-fi style games based off of common children's games. (Read more about it here.) So I was, quite literally, planning my next move.
That's the important thing to know about we people of the pen-craft.
Writers are always working.
Do you see me driving? I'm arranging scenes.
Do you see my lips moving silently? I'm not insane. I'm sketching dialogue.
Do you see me pacing the halls? I'm not an insomniac. Well, actually, yes I am, but that's not the point. The point is that pacing the halls is my way of hammering through writer's block.
Do you see me scribbling random poems and words on napkins? I'm actually plotting out the story arc.
No writer is ever not writing.
If you tell me an anecdote from your life, it goes in my brain-files to be used someday, somehow, in a book.
If I look like I'm just enjoying a pretty day, I am making the memory as vivid in my mind as possible so that I can spin it into words for the perfect setting.
If I'm watching a movie or reading a book, I'm studying story and technique the way business people study industry and markets. There is no part of my life that is not influenced by or directed toward writing.
Non-writers, take note.
So, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go grab my legal pad and play tic-tac-toe so I can plan out my next scene.