What Does It Mean To Be a Writer?

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Abstract

big question is how you prove to yourself you deserve to be called a writer, despite how good you are. You see, it doesn’t matter if you’re the best writer ever or barely mediocre, and it shouldn’t matter where I am on that spectrum either. If you care about the craft, write often, and try to improve, you’re a writer. What else does it take to be one?</p><p id="6822" type="7">writer</p><p id="f406" type="7">[noun] “a person who has written something or who writes in a particular way.” — Oxford Languages Dictionary</p><p id="e7bd">That brings me back to that compliment. Why should I be offended to be called a blogger? It’s on me. Of course, I’m not confident enough in my writing. I know I have so much to improve, and sometimes I forget how much I’ve improved already.</p><p id="54e8">Being called a blogger brings that feeling that I’m just playing at writing, I’m not taking it seriously, and I’m not good enough to deserve to be called a writer. I might never be on a best sellers list, and I might never e

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arn enough from writing to pay for my life, but writing is part of who I am, and it won’t go away. So, I may as well call myself a writer.</p><p id="948c">Hard work, perseverance, constancy. That’s what it takes to be a writer, and you have it. Do not allow other people to be the gatekeepers of a perceived definition of what it takes to be a writer. If you think you’re a writer, you are.</p><div id="3fcc" class="link-block"> <a href="https://readmedium.com/is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-writer-summer-slump-9727edb4bc7c"> <div> <div> <h2>Is There Such a Thing as a Writer Summer Slump?</h2> <div><h3>I’m not asking for a friend…</h3></div> <div><p>medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/1*[email protected])"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div></article></body>

I’m trying to figure it out

What does it take to be able to call yourself a writer? A book deal? A lumpsum? A prize? I have none of those. | © Image credit: Nanie Hurley 🌿 with Midjourney — CC-BY.

I was called a mommy blogger a while ago. It was meant as a compliment, but that’s not how I took it. It offended me. At first, I thought it was a dig dressed as praise. But why did I feel that way?

Most writers know Imposter Syndrome just too well. You feel like you don’t belong, you’re not good enough, and perhaps you should give up. I’m no different; I’ve felt all that. But how do you battle this?

The big question is how you prove to yourself you deserve to be called a writer, despite how good you are. You see, it doesn’t matter if you’re the best writer ever or barely mediocre, and it shouldn’t matter where I am on that spectrum either. If you care about the craft, write often, and try to improve, you’re a writer. What else does it take to be one?

writer

[noun] “a person who has written something or who writes in a particular way.” — Oxford Languages Dictionary

That brings me back to that compliment. Why should I be offended to be called a blogger? It’s on me. Of course, I’m not confident enough in my writing. I know I have so much to improve, and sometimes I forget how much I’ve improved already.

Being called a blogger brings that feeling that I’m just playing at writing, I’m not taking it seriously, and I’m not good enough to deserve to be called a writer. I might never be on a best sellers list, and I might never earn enough from writing to pay for my life, but writing is part of who I am, and it won’t go away. So, I may as well call myself a writer.

Hard work, perseverance, constancy. That’s what it takes to be a writer, and you have it. Do not allow other people to be the gatekeepers of a perceived definition of what it takes to be a writer. If you think you’re a writer, you are.