You Are a Real Writer

Do you feel anguish as you contemplate whether or not you are really a "Writer," as opposed to someone who just writes things sometimes? Do you dream of someday achieving this hallowed title?

Well, I have opinions about this and I'm here to share them!

I have seen some people claim that anyone who writes at all, ever, is a writer. To be honest, I don't really agree. I'm not a "skier" just because I went skiing one time (and broke my arm on my first run down the bunny hill)(Note: this is 100% true). However, if writing is important enough to you that you dream of one day being able to call yourself a writer, I would argue that you are actually a writer. And I have brought dictionary definitions as evidence.

Common Objections:

1. My writing isn't good. Ahem, we aren't talking about whether or not you are a good writer! We are just talking about whether or not you are a writer! A doctor who's bad at their job is very unfortunate for their patients, but they are still definitely a doctor. (Also, I would recommend rephrasing this thought as "My writing isn't good yet." Being a bad writer now does not mean you are doomed to be a bad writer forever. You can always keep learning and improving!)

2. I haven't published any writing yet. I have multiple arguments against this:

1. Have you posted anything on Vocal Media? Go look at vocal.media/stories. See, there is a tab that says "Published," and your stories are in there! This also applies to any other writing/blogging platforms, because here is the definition of the word "published" (source: Google search for "define: published"):

Anything posted publicly online has definitely been "issued for public readership," i.e. published! (If, despite this, you think that publishing doesn't count unless it's selective, see "I haven't been traditionally published" below.)

2. For those who have truly never published anything publicly: First of all, I would suggest starting now, because this is really fun! :) (plus you will then be able to say you are published). But, if you don't want to do that, check out this definition of the word "writer":

Note that it says a writer writes books or articles to be published. If you write pieces that you hope to get published in the future, you are definitely writing items to be published even if they haven't been published yet.

3. I haven't been traditionally published (published by a selective publisher). Even traditional publishers themselves consider self-publishing to 100% be publishing, sometimes to authors' detriment. See this great video by author Alexa Donne for more details. If you would like dictionary evidence, check out all these definitions I have gathered, none of which mention anything about traditional publishing:

Here is the result when you google "define: writer":

a person who writes books, stories, or articles as a job or regular occupation

Here is the definition from Collins:

A writer is a person who writes books, stories, or articles as a job.

Here's the definition from dictionary.com:

a person engaged in writing books, articles, stories, etc., especially as an occupation or profession; an author or journalist

And Merriam-Webster says a writer is:

one that writes: such as [an] author

and defines "author" as:

the writer of a literary work (such as a book)

4. No one reads my writing. If absolutely no one has read your writing, please comment a link below! I will read it!! If some people have read your writing and you are just being overdramatic when you say "no one," see the next item :).

5. Not enough people read my writing. An unpopular writer is still a writer. After all, unpopular kids in high school are, undeniably, still kids in high school. They don't cease to exist as students just because other teens ignore or shun them. None of the dictionary definitions (see above) mention anything about popularity as a requirement!

6. I haven't earned money from my writing.

This may be the strongest objection, because 2 out of the 5 definitions above do say that a writer is someone who writes "as a job" or "as a job or regular occupation." However, I think it's telling that over 50% of the definitions do not list that as a requirement (Note: if you're wondering how I selected my sample of dictionaries: they are the top 5 definition results when I google "define: writer" or "writer definition").

For those who aren't satisfied with only 60% agreement, let's discuss the IRS definition of a business (as opposed to a hobby). You do not actually have to turn a profit to be running a business! Exact quote from the IRS website: "You do not need to make a profit to be operating a trade or business but you do need to have a profit motive." If you are making a serious effort to make income as a writer, you are very definitely working as a writer, even if you haven't made any income yet!

7. I don't earn enough money to make writing my full-time job. You are being awfully picky! :) A job doesn't have to be full-time to be a job. Plenty of jobs are part-time. Would you really tell someone they are "not a real waitress" because they only work part-time? That would be very weird.

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Thank you for reading! Have I managed to convince you that you ARE really a writer? If not, why not? Are there any objections I have missed? Let me know in the comments! I'd love to discuss.

Thank you to L.C. Schäfer's recent story and its comment section for inspiring this post!!