I Challenge You . . . to Call Yourself a Writer

 

 

Easy definition: if you write you are a writer.

 

But do other people take you seriously and do you even take yourself seriously?

 

Sometimes if you say 'I am a writer' you get one of two reactions:

 'Are you rich or famous?' Give over.  If I were famous you'd have heard of me and you clearly haven't.  If I were rich would I be here?

'I've a novel inside me.'  Really? So why haven't you written it?

Some may think you have to be already published to call yourself a writer. One of my creative writing group members told me today about a script he'd had rejected sixteen times. Keep going. You've got at least another forty-two to go. But I would still say he was a writer.  

 

But think of rejections as invitations to rewrite.

 

Some people who are published think they can't call themselves a writer because they're not earning enough money through it. But are they doing other writerly things that are earning money. And even if they have another day job that may be a means to an end; it pays the bills until the writing gains momentum.

These tricks may help:

·     Get a dedicated writing space and if you can, make it sacrosanct.  It took a while but I did manage to train my husband and my father not to disturb me if the study door was firmly shut; if it was a little ajar it was okay to come in – as long as they knocked first. Home too small for a dedicated room? Still find a dedicated space – one particular corner of the kitchen table, the dressing table, the dining table that otherwise is only used on Sundays or when you have guests.

·     Turn up at the keyboard or notebook. Don't wait for inspiration.  

·     See it as a business – you can even let the taxman know what you’re spending.

·     Get informed – read a writers' magazine, join a few forums, find out about your genre, read your genre.

·     Get out to literature events. Find out what other writers are up to.

·     Network

·     Write, write, write, read, read, read