A Writer Writes

How do you know you're a writer? That question, or some derivation of it, seems to pop up on so many blogs and discussions that I almost feel as though I'm piling on here. When do you know? What does it take to be able to say to yourself and others, "I am a writer?" I think it's a legitimate question to ponder as so many writers are deciding whether or not to pursue self-publishing rather than follow the traditional track. (As I write this, I can see clearly in my head an image of me tied to a railroad track with a steam engine bearing down on me. The train is black and menacing and a sign on the front reads, "Publish or perish!") If I do it on my own, am I still legitimate? Does that make me a writer? The answer depends on who you're asking and has many different levels.

Level 1: Society in General: Most people seem to think that the label "writer" is reserved for only those people who receive a paycheck in association with their writing. Throughout my life, I've considered myself a writer although in many of the jobs I've held, writing had nothing to do with how I earned my paycheck. Writing was not my hobby or my way to let off steam or something that I did to while away the hours when I couldn't sleep in the dead of night (although that is often when I'd write while holding down a full-time job or two at a time). Writing was, and is, as much a part of me as breathing. Always has been, always will be.

Level 2: Professional Identification: Years ago, while going to school in Fairfax, Virginia, I tried to join a writers' club. During the application process, I was asked how many and in what genres I'd had books published. When I admitted that I was an aspiring writer hoping to one day publish, hence the desired affiliation, I was rejected out of hand. Writers are published, I was told. Come back when you're a writer. I've heard the same line from other clubs and agents and publishers through the years. It's like the old story of trying to find a first job: you need experience to get experience. You need to be published to get published. And I'm finding that self-publishing doesn't count.

Level 3: Personal: My brother is a musician; a very talented, gifted, brilliant musician. He hears music in his head; he experiences life through his music in a way that I will never fully understand (imagine August Rush), except that I do understand in a strange way because I experience my life through words. While Brad hears the rhythms of life in a musical way, I see the potential of words all around me. Our older brother is an amazingly talented painter whose art belongs in museums and galleries around the world. I'm sure that Randy sees the world in colors and brush strokes to which I am blind (imagine What Dreams May Come) but I understand because I find emotion in words and feel the pull of the pen or the pencil or the keyboard throughout my day and often late into the night. Brad is a musician. Randy is a painter. I am a writer. We are what we are because we live through our art to understand our experiences of life.

So perhaps the best appellation is the one that feels right to you. A musician plays. A painter paints. A writer writes. Despite what anyone else tells me or believes about me or thinks of me, I am a writer. It is what I am.