Are You a Writer and Don’t Know It?
Recognize your inner wordsmith and embrace the craft
My colleague and I were just discussing a reluctance we’ve both observed among the authors we work with to call themselves authors, or even writers. We see this even when they have published books — an accomplishment many would see as the ultimate litmus test.
It reminded me of riding my bike eight miles to work and back every day when I was in my twenties. When I went to the doctor and filled out a health questionnaire, I was instructed to check the box marked ‘sedentary’ if I exercised less than something like twenty minutes a day. I didn’t count my daily bike rides as a workout because it was just my commute. I wasn’t doing it at the gym and there was no fitness goal. It was simply that my shift started before the first bus ran in the morning and I didn’t have a car. So in my mind, even though my body was lean and toned, this was not exercise.
In the same way, many people who write pages in their journals every night, entertain their social media friends with long, cleverly-worded posts, or compose heartfelt letters to friends and family may not see themselves as ‘real writers’ because they aren’t famous or writing full-time for a living.
But a writer is simply someone who writes! Right? For a writer, putting words on…
