When I teach writing classes, I like to open by asking my students a little about themselves. Those who have not yet been published tend to say something like “Well, I like to write but I haven’t had anything published yet. So I'm not really a writer.”
Those who have been published but without financial compensation say “I like to write and I have had a couple poems/short stories/essays/articles published but I haven’t got paid yet. So I'm not a professional writer.”
The first group assumes publication confers a true “writer” status while the second group assumes it’s the dollars that make the difference between an amateur and a professional.
And then there is the third group: the ones who are receiving an income (however erratic) from their writing. All too often, they identify their level of professionalism by the size of the paycheck—whether or not they are “six-figure” writers.
We are so busy categorizing ourselves by external criteria—publication credits or paycheck—that we overlook the real definition of a writer: a writer is a person who writes. Period.
What about you? What does being a “real writer” mean to you? Are you allowing your doubts about your ability to live up to that definition keep you from the paper or keyboard?
And when do you feel most like a “real writer”?
2 comments:
Everything you said was so right! I remembered with chagrin the time a friend and I were traveling in England and met a couple of fellow students. When they asked what we did, I said, "I'm a writer." I was 18 and in college. My friend said--and I now agree--that my answer might have been a tad pretentious!
Ray Bradbury was leading an open-invitation seminar for aspiring writers one afternoon --just talking about his profession, what to do, what not to do, etc.
After his lecture, he took questions.
An 11-year-old kid stood up and said "Mr. Bradbury, I'm a writer, and I'd like to know... xxxx"
After the seminar, Bradbury came up to the kid and told him that the two of them had been the only two writers in the room--they were the only two who had identified themselves as such.
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