When do you consider yourself a "writer"?

eveningstar said:

When do you consider yourself a writer?

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When I'm sitting at my keyboard and actually typing on my current WIP.

Any time I'm elsewhere doing something else (which, unfortunately, is most of the time), I consider myself a wanna-be.

Never, anymore.

caw

I think we all ask ourselves if we're really a writer. I do. There are those occasions when you admit it freely, especially after some positive feedback. For example, when I first read my poem "The Yellow Dress," the piece had an effect on the audience. I felt like a writer. The first time an agent asked for a partial, I felt the same way. Then there are those days when you're quite sure you're not a writer, that you were simply deluding yourself. Insecurity comes with the territory.

Perhaps this is a bit callus, but... $$$.

I used to ask myself whether I could call myself a writer, but now I make money writing. That pretty much seals the deal.

I agree with the $$$. Granted, I performed the physical act of writing from the time that I learned how, and I always knew I'd be a professional someday. But it never quite felt "real" until I held that first check in my hot little hands.

eveningstar said:

When do you consider yourself a writer?

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If you've written, you're a writer.

When you have an agent?

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Then you're an agented writer.

When you've been published?

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Then you're a published writer.

Others mentioned money. When you've been paid, then you're a professional writer.

Or is just putting words to paper enough?

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Yes, that's enough. If you want an adjective (professional writer or published writer or real writer or full time wroter), then you gotta do whatever earns you the adjective.

But to be a writer, all you gotta do is write.

That is, unless you have some additional criteria that are important to you. Then simply writing isn't enough.

What's making this important to you?

Dale

Anyone who writes on a regular basis (not counting things they have to do for a non-writing job, like business letters), is a writer. If you're published, you can call yourself an author, but we're all writers.

eveningstar said:

But I find myself hesitant to label myself a writer. I tend to say that "I write" or "I'm working on a novel" rather than using the W-word.

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There's no need for hesitancy. You're a writer. It's as simple as that.

Every morning when I wake up .

As long as I'm writing, I'm a writer. Agents, publications, money, fame, prizes, have nothing to do with it. After all, the writing has to come first. Only then can any rewards follow.

I think we all have our own little goalposts we set for ourselves, whether unconsciously or not, that tell us when we've become a writer to our own satisfaction. For each person, it's different. When the time comes, you'll know.

For me it was when I awoke one morning after a serious night's revelries, with it mysteriously tattooed on my right hand. Upon my knuckles were tattooed the letters R - I - T - E - R.

From that point on I knew I was special.

I consider myself a writer when writing becomes like breathing-- it's something I have to do.

Also, when I decide that even if I don't make a penny doing it, I will continue to write.

every day that I actually sit down to write, I'm a writer. As soon as I'm published I'll be an author.

This seems to come up a lot. I guess you call yourself a writer when you need to use that activity as part of your identity for some reason. You don't necessarily need to use it as a label no matter how much you do it or how much you get paid.

This is something that's always bothered me. I really don't think there's a right or wrong answer to your question, only what one believes it to be.

I don't think anyone should call themselves a writer unless it's their sole occupation. And even then, if one is not published and wishes to be forthright, shouldn't they call themselves an unpublished writer? I know that when I held down another job--before I got published--and someone asked me what I did for a living, I told them I was a salesman. I didn't tell them up front that I had written a manuscript and was trying to get someone to buy it. However, once I sold that initial manuscript I answered by saying that I'm a salesman and a published author who's hoping to soon concentrate all of my efforts on writing and publishing. Once the latter came about, I answered by saying I was an author.

I really don't care what people want to call themselves, and it's none of my business, however, the word "writer" seems to get thrown around way too much by way too many people.

scope said:

This is something that's always bothered me. I really don't think there's a right or wrong answer to your question, only what one believes it to be.

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Very, very true. The responses to this post have been very revealing. They've caused me to reconsider my definition, as I am also of the sort who HAS to write to survive and who would do so even if I never sold again. But because I always wanted to do it professionally, I define the word "writer" by whether I make sales rather than the physical act, even tho' that's just as valid of a definition.

For me, to be a "writer" means that someone validated it by paying me money and putting it out for others to read. To paraphrase an old ponderment (is "ponderment" even a word?): If a person writes an article in the forest and no one is around to read it, are they still a writer?

No right answer, just whatever feels right inside.

eveningstar said:

I've labeled myself a writer for awhile but in casual conversation I find I'm much more likely say I'm writing or working on a novel.

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Okay, got it. So for you, "being a writer" is partly about being able to deal with whatever comes next after you say "I'm a writer" in casual conversation?

Something like that.

Dale

This is kind of a multi-faceted question. The answer depends on the context.

While I may call myself a writer, in my head and on this board, I would never define myself that way publicly because publicly, the standard answer implies what you do for a living. So, to me, to tell another person “I’m a writer” would be on par with “I’m a lawyer” or “I’m a carpenter” or “I’m a cop” or “I’m a hired killer”.

The majority of the time, when asked what do you do or when stating what you do, it’s usually referencing what you do for a living.

The only way to answer that “I’m a writer” publicly would be if someone asked me, “Who are you?” and then ‘writer’ would be but one of the many different things that I am.

So, in my own mind, yes, I’m a writer but even that acknowledgement took me quite a while to reach. And as I’ve said, I had to pass my own internal criteria first before I was able to even make it to that point.

But I’m still a long ways from, and might never even reach, the point where I’ll publicly state that I’m a writer.

Because, publicly, I’m not. I’m just a guy who happens to write, along with many other things that I happen to enoy doing. And the truth is that there are some times when I'm NOT a writer. It's a feeling that can dip and soar and swell and even fade.

And again, this is a question which each person answers differently. There is no right or wrong answer. Each person has their own criteria and their own definition and their own sense of when it’s appropriate to claim that you’re a writer.

eveningstar said:

When do you consider yourself a writer?
Or is just putting words to paper enough?

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I consider myself a writer the same way I consider myself a computer programmer: both are something I do every day. One is my day job, one is my avocation, but I always self-identify (at least, internally) as "a writer." More and more, I've started to answer (on those rare occasions when anyone asks) "I'm a writer. My day job is as a computer programmer." People seem to have no problem understanding what I'm saying with I frame it that way.

I think maybe the feeling of being a writer has to do with what is inside a person. I've painted many a picture and sold it, but I've never used the word artist to describe myself. I've never felt like one. Writing is different. When I finished my first creative writing class and came out with my first personal experience essay, I felt like an accomplished writer must feel. When I read it before the class and watched the responses on other student's faces, I felt even more like a writer. (Incidentally, a friend of a publisher of a small magazine happened to be in the class, and she told him about my story. He emailed, asking to see it and published it next issue. I wrote a monthly article for him for ten years.)

It's never the paycheck that makes me feel like a writer though. It is the satisfaction that comes with a finished piece when I know I've put my heart and soul into it and learn that it has had an impact on another's life.

The first paycheck I ever received for writing, I held onto for six months because I felt guilty for taking money for sharing such a personal part of myself.

eveningstar said:

But I find myself hesitant to label myself a writer. I tend to say that "I write" or "I'm working on a novel" rather than using the W-word.

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I say the same thing - I write. Other people introduce me as a writer but I never use the term myself. Not sure why but probably because I don't actually earn my living as a writer and I know people who do.
Linnea

I hate to break up the circle-jerk, but it's not right to call yourself a writer if you haven't been paid for it.

The act of writing may make you a writer by the dictionary definition, but if you identify yourself to people as a writer when you don't get paid for it you are deceiving them.

I re-do electrical wiring in my apartment and friends apartments/houses when needed, I don't call myself an electrician. I study history as a hobby, I don't call myself a historian. I write , and I hope to be published someday, but until that happens I don't call myself a writer.