In an effort to reduce my personal belongings to a more travel-ready nature, I decided to sell my iMac and purchase a new laptop. My coworker Miguel had a pretty sweet MacBook Pro I had thought to buy off him. Delilah says we have our own little swap meet since we are always selling things back and forth.
Being a nice guy, Miguel sends me a link to a Facebook Marketplace ad for a similar laptop to his, but with a slightly better graphics card and a little bit longer on Apple care. I contacted the seller and we decided to meet up. Whenever you sell on Facebook Marketplace, it is common to stalk the profile of a potential buyer to find out if they are shady. I wasn’t all that surprised they would do the same to me.
What took me off guard was they asked, “So, you are a writer?”
During their due diligence, they had come across this website. My blog is a lot of fun for me so I don’t consider myself a serious writer. I certainly don’t get paid for it so am not a professional writer.
In the midst of bumbling and fumbling, telling them my feelings about my blog and how I am not really a writer, I realized how much I revere actual writers and would love to be inducted into their esteemed pantheon.
Delilah later asked me how many blog posts does it take until you are considered a writer.
We tell our kids they can be anything they want to be, but what really makes you that thing? Is it getting paid for it, doing it as a hobby, or doing it for an extended period of time? Getting an award for it? When someone is asked if they are a writer, would anyone who writes anything be able to respond in the positive?
Should I say that I don’t like labels?
This blog is something I put together for a purpose and although that purpose has shifted around throughout the years, I think of it as a creative outlet and a brain exercise more than anything. Writing helps us all get our thoughts out and have others understand them. Also, it builds character to be dedicated to a project.
I have been paid to work on websites and do I.T. work but don’t really associate with either of those as an individual. They are just things I sometimes do. I tinker. I’m just a really good tinkerer.
As good as I am at painting and drawing, I wouldn’t shirk off the term artist. Though I have rarely been paid for my fine art skills.
Growing up, I would like to have been paid to be an artist but my mom constantly warned me about “starving” artists. From that, I developed a strong division in my head on what makes work and what is a hobby. However, I have enjoyed my work just as much as I enjoy doing art.
So yeah, sure, I am a writer I guess. An absolute amateur in all forms of the definition:
amateur (pl. amateurs)
- (classic) A lover of something.
- A person attached to a particular pursuit, study, or science as to music or painting; especially one who cultivates any study or art, from taste or attachment, without pursuing it professionally.
- Someone who is unqualified or insufficiently skillful.
An unqualified lover attached to a particular pursuit. That about sums me up.
But please, no labels.
What do you think makes someone a writer? That they receive money for it? Accolades from other writers? Or is it just writing and continuing to write? Would it matter if they were alone in a cave and no one read a word they wrote?
Let me know your thoughts below!
A writer is on a spectrum. It can be from a columnist, to a blogger, a poet, an author or just a person who has written any type of text. They don’t have to receive money or accolades. You are a writer Sam, Bravo! You could even be on an island (wink, wink).
I like your style and thank you for that appellation.
I was thinking it’s all based on perception. I don’t mind being thought of as an artist because I don’t put much value in it. I hold being a “writer” in high regard so it will always be out of my reach. But I also think that’s okay. It won’t stop me from doing what I do.
The other thing is I follow the Daily Stoic emails (which I recommend) and after I wrote this blog post received the email about labels. Labels box you in. In the email, it mentioned specifically “writer” as an example.
Success is not the destination but the journey. I’m going to keep writing and encourage everyone else to keep doing whatever goals they are trying to get to whether it be writing, art, or whatever.
So you think you are a writer because you are good at Google Sheets?
Nah, dawg! I think I’m the Sheet since I Google writers.