So. Are You A Writer Or Not?

[cpg35223]

Originally Posted by TeaJay

This is a great post. I am calling myself a writer in the hopes that I will live up to the title. I teach full-time and have no plans to quit. Plus, I get lots of ideas from my interactions with my kids and colleagues. I just started contributing to a pretty widely-read blog about education in NYC, which is where I teach.

My students and I are going to do NaNoWriMo this year, which we are all pretty excited about. Though I think my long-term focus will be more on articles/essays than fiction. I have one essay ready to shop around (I took a continuing ed class about writing for publication- definitely a good move and something I'd recommend) and I also have an idea for a non-fiction picture book for older kids.

Finding the time is the biggest challenge. I also have a 2 year old, so I can get stuff done in dribs and drabs, but it's not really ideal.

Hey, I totally get that. My first novel was written with an 8, 6, and 4 year old running around my house. That's probably why it sucked so badly.

[Mightyqueen801]

Originally Posted by TeaJay

This is a great post. I am calling myself a writer in the hopes that I will live up to the title. I teach full-time and have no plans to quit. Plus, I get lots of ideas from my interactions with my kids and colleagues. I just started contributing to a pretty widely-read blog about education in NYC, which is where I teach.

My students and I are going to do NaNoWriMo this year, which we are all pretty excited about. Though I think my long-term focus will be more on articles/essays than fiction. I have one essay ready to shop around (I took a continuing ed class about writing for publication- definitely a good move and something I'd recommend) and I also have an idea for a non-fiction picture book for older kids.

Finding the time is the biggest challenge. I also have a 2 year old, so I can get stuff done in dribs and drabs, but it's not really ideal.

I found that once I started to say out loud that I am a writer, or telling people "I write", I began to believe it more myself.

I work in NYC, and I took a few of the writers workshops offered by Gotham.

It's tough chasing a 2-year-old! Mine just turned 18 and left for college. I have this delicious sense of freedom.

[JerZ]

Yes, I'm a freelance writer, making a little money. Previously I was a magazine writer/editor, making a lot of money. (Sigh. Those were the days.)

But I would never tell a single soul he or she was not "a writer". Getting paid isn't always an indication--I wouldn't call my paid work a little slice of artist's heaven and my "for fun" unpublished stuff less-than. In fact, it may be the other way around. Getting paid isn't always the indication of what a writer "is," IMO.

But I see what you're getting at. You want to know who writes professionally, right? And that's a valid question. I mean if some shmo who's never managed to get a word published decides to come along and tear apart somebody else's writing style, it would help that person (the writer) to know that he or she was dealing with unwarranted crabbiness, not a potentially helpful critique. Like any art, writing tends to be a pretty insecure biz. You're only as good as your last published whatever (novel; article)...or at least that's how it often feels.

So yes, I feel this was a legitimate question. But I do believe in my heart that there are many, many people who are writers...whether they write professionally or not. (I have reason to think this: I, the gutless wonder, wrote literally for decades before making it an actual career.) And I do think people who love to write should keep going. People love all sorts of creative things. Whether or not we're "the pros" in our field of choice, we should be able to keep on doing it and, yes, say we're writers. But that's just my opinion.