I’m a writer! Or am I?

I’m a writer! Or am I?

When some fellow writers visited during the holidays, one person said people need to know the basics of writing more than anything else. I tend to agree. So let’s start with what makes you a writer, and what the difference is between an author, blogger, essayist, poet and a writer.

We can easily identify an author because he or she has written something that has been published. It might be a magazine article, a chapbook or a book. It might be published traditionally or self-published. Bottom line: if it’s been published, you are an author.

Bloggers, essayists and poets are identified by what they write (i.e. blogs, essays, poetry, etc.) Easy, right? But where the rubber meets the road (for me, at least) is defining what makes one a writer. Are you ready for this? You might not like this definition, but a writer is someone who writes. Period. You might be an excellent writer or mediocre or even terrible. You might have a wonderful vocabulary and excellent grammar skills or you might put random commas everywhere and misspell half of what you write. Regardless…a writer is someone who writes as opposed to an author who has been published.

Now comes the “ouch” part (for me as well as for you). If we wrote something once (even if it was published) or we “used to write,” we’re a “used to be writer.” If we’re planning on writing something in the future, we’re a “wanna be writer.” It’s simple, really. If you and I want to be writers, we need to write. If we identify as a writer and we’re not writing, why not? We can’t claim “writer’s block” if we’re not already sitting down at a keyboard or with paper and pen in hand.

What’s the solution? That one’s easy as well. If you and I want to be writers, we need to start writing. We find time for what’s really important to us. So if writing’s important to you, create a time for it each day. If we’ll sit down and begin, we may not write what we want to write, but we will be writing. Use stream of consciousness writing, write some rhyming couplets, define a common object with uncommon words. It doesn’t matter what you write; it only matters that you’re writing something other than a grocery list.

Believe me when I tell you I feel your pain on this one. It’s so easy to have hours become days, then weeks, then months without writing anything. Maybe this new year can mark a new beginning for you. For me. And we’ll be able to honestly say, “I’m a writer.”