I Am A Writer. There, I Said It.
Why is my chest tensing up at the thought of proclaiming my profession?
[inhales deeply, releases slowly]
Okay, there you go, heart rate, calm back down.
Can I call myself a writer if I’m not published?
This morning, opening my eyes slowly with no rush to get out of my new queen-sized bed, I began going thru my Medium Daily Digest that had arrived in my email inbox. Being the desperately aspiring wannabe writer I sometimes claim to be in whispers, Medium’s algorithm quickly learned to keep feeding me content on writing.
“If Writing Is Important to You, Don’t Give Up” immediately caught my eye on the curated list and forced me to click, especially in a moment of time where my writing aspirations can seem like pipedreams.
That quick, 2-minute read invigorated me and answered my question.
Yes. Yes, you can call yourself a writer even if you haven’t been published nor paid.
Before recently winning the decades-long fight, NCAA athletes were prohibited from earning any outside money. For example, if a local gym in their college town wanted a star student to make an appearance for a grand opening event, he could make the appearance, but he couldn’t accept any compensation for it. Student athletes couldn’t be paid because they weren’t professionals.
The NCAA felt “that college athletes are not professionals and therefore do not need to be compensated.”
Did the lack of earning a living from their craft make them any less of an athlete? No. Those students still held the title of athlete.
We can still hold the title of writer.
Did people not call Michael Jordan a basketball player in college because he wasn’t getting paid to play? I don’t think I was alive at that time, but I highly doubt it. He was a basketball player then, unpaid; and, he’s a [retired] basketball player now (just with a ridiculously larger amount of money).
If I’m shooting in the gym, if I’m running these drills, if I’m getting out there in the game, even with no earnings, I’m still a writer. And that’s what I have to believe.
Thinking I’m not has caused me to act it as if I’m not. And that, right there, will get me nowhere.
I write. Therefore I am.
Je pense, donc je suis.
Cogito, ergo sum.
I think, therefore I am.
Whatever language you want to say it in, I write, therefore I am a writer.
Yes, I’m aware the old dead White guys were talking on an existential, philosophical level, but I’m applying it to this. Are you picking up what I’m putting down?
I used to think that making oodles and boodles of bucks on Medium, or landing an article in Vogue, or having “contributing writer @ [insert digital publication here (BuzzFeed, HuffPost, etc)]” in my Twitter bio would make me a writer. Mais no, I’m a writer now.
Reading that post from Moms Don’t Have Time to Write was the encouragement I needed this morning.
If you want to do it, you think of yourself as a writer. When people say, ‘What do you do?’ you say, ‘I’m a writer. I’m not published, but I’m a writer.’
Further reinforcement of this idea can be heard from a number of now successful, published writers.
The first step to launching a writing career, according to Jerry Jenkins, the seasoned 72-year-old author of over 200 books, is “don’t wait to call yourself a writer.”
I’ve heard it. I’ve read it. I’ve seen it. Now it’s time to believe it.
I have to believe it with all my might.
Fellow novice writers, you have to believe it with all your might.
Because if you believe it, truly, truly believe it, you’ll treat it as such. You’ll show up for work. (Unless, you’re a garbage employee.) You’ll consistently devote yourself to it. And that, right there, will get you somewhere.
Whew. I’m a writer.
Yeah, I said it.
I’m a writer.
I’m a writer.
Mmm. I feel good.
Well, I’ve completely my workload for the day. I’ll talk to you all on the next one!
Feel free find me on my personal blog, aroundLAwithTK.
The reason I’m finally here, writing on Medium, may be thanks to a 30-day writing challenge that got my little choo-choo train a’chugging on this writing journey. Click here to check it out, fellow writers; it may get your engine oiled too!
