Now I wonder why so many of us insist on labels anyway. I’m a writer, I’m a this, I’m a that…seems like we might be better off just doing whatever it is we want to do with our lives and leave the name-calling to others. If you’ve got the courage to say, “I am a —–” then somebody out there is going to say, “No, you’re not.”
So, who knows what I am…but I do write–everyday.
Marta Bacon 
You really ran into somebody else who said “no you’re not?” That wasn’t you who said that?
Well, I had an English professor call me an idiot and a sucker in front of the entire class once, but no, no one has ever told me, “no, you’re not.” But I realize that the more of your work you put out in the world, the more likely that is. I’ve read what some people say about other authors, and you’d think writing badly was right up there with desecrating the dead and spitting in an old lady’s tea.
Perhaps I’m just bracing myself.
(Oh, that same professor also told me I had “an orginal point of view” and that he liked my “writing style.” But he said this in the privacy of his office.
Be a writer. Let someone else accuse you of writing badly, because that’s what accusers do!
Hah, if you don’t make your own labels, then the other people are bound to get it wrong. You’re definitely a writer. You write all the time, and pour yourself into it. Not to mention: I’ve read what you write, and you have far more right to call yourself a writer than many published authors out there.
Jess, you are so good to me. Thanks for that.
Writers write. End of story.
If you write, you’re a writer. That’s all there is to it. I always find it strange that people don’t write. And when I realize there are people who don’t write and don’t want to write and don’t feel compelled to write, that’s when I know I’m a writer.
I call myself a writer in the sense of that is who I am. When I have an experience, any experience, I write about it in my head and can’t wait to get to a piece of paper. When I’m inspired by art or dance or music, I want to express what I’m feeling on paper with words. I’ve had a job as a writer, and then I guess I was officially a Real Writer, but it’s my own passion for writing that defines me as a writer.
I like your blog and thoughts about writing, and this post in particular spoke to me. Great topic.
Keep writing.
SBW
(fellow NaBloPoMo’er)
I write. I write about the books I read. I write about my travel experience. I write down my feelings and thoughts. I write about what I see. But for a long time I’ve been telling myself that I’m not a writer. The stigma that I carried with me all my life discourages my thinking of being a writer. But I’m slowly coming out of the dark.
Oh Matt, we’ve met only here in the blogosphere and I call you a writer. I read your posts and they are thoughtful and clear and often present a point-of-view or idea I hadn’t consider before. Writer, I bid you, come out of the dark!
And SBW, I’m surprised too when I meet someone who doesn’t want to write (and by people who ask, when I say I’m doing NaNo, “you money or something for that?”). I give them that look that is probably a lot like the look my mom-in-law gives me for not going to church. It is difficult to understand other people’s passions–or lack thereof.