I Write, There for I am...

A writer...see, I said it. I am a writer. Am I published? No, but that doesn't stop me from claiming that title as mine. Why? Because. I. Write. Simple as that.

This all started Easter when we were visiting my in-laws.  I was talking to my father-in-law about how I was connecting with other writers on Twitter and some of the amazing people I've met as a result.  He stopped me as soon as I said "a bunch of us writers".

"How can you call yourself a writer?" he asked. "You aren't even published yet."
My response was, "I write. Therefore, I am a writer. I may not be published (yet!) but that doesn't mean I'm not a writer."

I wasn't mad when he asked me that question. It was an honest question. And to be quiet frank, a part of me thought the same thing for a long time. Of course, that was before I met some really amazing writers (both published and unpublished).

It's interesting that people make assumptions about you based on a label. If you tell someone, "I'm a writer," they immediately assume that a) you are published and b) you are good at coming up with written things on the spur of the moment. Both of these are false assumptions. Just because I'm a writer, doesn't mean I can whip out something meaningful on demand. It doesn't work that way. If you are a writer, you know this. Just because I'm a writer, doesn't mean I'm published. It doesn't even mean that I'm a good writer. I just have a passion for writing that supersedes most other things.

This last Saturday (April 14th), there was a meeting of the local writers group. I've mentioned them before. All wonderful people. Some published, others almost, and some like me, not yet. It was a small group this time because of the impending storm-pocalypse that they were predicting (which ended up hitting every where else, but where we were) and other things like life and illness.

Anyway, I was talking with the very talented Tessa Gratton (yes, I'm name dropping!). If you haven't read her debut book, Blood Magic, then you need to. It's awesome. Her second one, Blood Keeper (which has a wicked cover) comes out in August.  So, we were all talking and my brain was still melty from my downward spiral (mentioned in my last post). I can't remember what I said, but it was along the lines of me not being as cool as her because she was published and I was only 30,000 words into my first novel.  Her response was immediate.

"Don't self-deprecate."

In other words, don't put yourself down because you aren't as far along the path as other people.

And since, I've decided to spruce up my blog with random things, here is a video I did of me raising one eyebrow...why? Because I can. :-p

'Till next time!

P.S. I am waaaay behind on my #writemovation goal of 20K words on WIP. We'll see how the rest of the month goes. Now that my brain isn't melty, I should be able to make some progress. :D