So you call yourself a writer…but is it true?

by Meaghan Laetella

It’s no easy task to articulate what it means to be a writer. Maybe this isn’t something that you think about often. But for someone like me—a college student who is always turning in essays and short stories for my classes—the quest to be recognized as a “good writer” feels perpetual.

Last semester, I took a creative writing class called “Writing Outside of the Lines.” The goal of the course was to have us experiment with different forms of storytelling. Every assignment was a different variation on writing memoir. My very first assignment was to tell the story of “how I became a writer.”

The prompt bothered me for two reasons. For starters, I don’t have any recollection of when I first wrote something and actually enjoyed it. I racked my brains for some adorable childhood memory that could pass as a captivating narrative—but I came up blank. Writing my name for the first time? But that’s overdone.

Secondly, I have always felt guilty calling myself a “writer.”

It’s not that I don’t want people to think of me as a writer; I mean sure, writers often get branded as egomaniacs with tortured souls, people who think they know something about everything. But my reluctance to be branded by this stereotype isn’t why I refrain from self-identifying as a writer. My aversion stems from something much deeper. In truth, I feel as though I do not deserve the title.

So who is a writer? The short answer would be anyone who has ever written. But let’s break it down. Ernest Hemingway believes that a true writer is devoted to the craft. If he is writing, it may take him all morning to finish just one paragraph. If he’s not writing, then he is clearing his mind so that he can be sharp in the morning.

hemingway“…I learned not to think about anything that I was writing from the time I stopped writing until I started again the next day,” Hemingway said. “That way my subconscious would be working on it and at the same time I would be listening to other people and noticing everything.” I think Hemingway would agree that a writer is like an athlete in training. He puts in the work when he needs to, and he pushes himself to perform at his highest level in order to achieve the best result possible. But when it’s time to rest, he takes care to let his body and mind recover.

A professor once told me that when other people begin to refer to you as a writer—people other than your friends and family—you have officially earned the distinction. It’s safe to say that a “professional” writer is one whose words people would continually pay to read.

lee Harper Lee, the widely beloved author of To Kill a Mockingbird, once said: “I would advise anyone who aspires to a writing career that before developing his talent he would be wise to develop a thick hide.”

In other words, a writer must be able to take criticism. More importantly, a writer cannot let the fear of failure prevent him from writing. Perseverance is essential if a writer ever wants to be successful. John Steinbeck, the brains behind The Grapes of Wrath and Of Mice and Men, advises writers to “abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish. Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page a day…then when it gets finished, you are always surprised.”

native sonAll writers will be rejected at some point in their career. The ones who make it are the ones who don’t take no for an answer. But what about writers’ block? What if you have the perseverance, you know that you want to finish what you have started, but you simply don’t know where the story is going? My favorite piece of advice to tackle this problem comes from James Baldwin, whose non-fiction work Notes of a Native Son exudes passion and authenticity: “…When you’re writing, you’re trying to find out something which you don’t know. The whole language of writing for me is finding out what you don’t want to know, what you don’t want to find out. But something forces you to anyway…”

The insight that each of these authors possesses has helped me form my own definition of what it means to be a “writer.” In my opinion, a real writer is someone whose name stands the test of time; whose words are repeated for years after he or she has passed away; whose stories can be read and reread thousands of times without readers ever growing tired of them; people Like Hemingway, Lee, Steinbeck and Baldwin.

The truth is, I’m not trying to write the next great American novel. I don’t seek to be a bestselling author by the time I’m thirty, or to have famous directors calling me to claim the movie rights to my stories. I often wonder if my self-deprecating attitude towards writing stems from the fact that I don’t have any concrete writing goals. For me, writing is just something I have always seemed to be at least decent at, but not necessarily something that defines me. It’s an activity that allows me to be alone with my thoughts; it’s a cheap and accessible form of therapy.

So…what’s my point, you ask? Writing takes on many forms. It all depends on who the writer is and what their end-goals are. If you’re ambitious and talented enough, you can make a career out of the craft. But some writers are just destined to be mediocre. And that’s ok! If you like to write, you shouldn’t stop practicing just because no one besides your mother and your seven cats may ever hear your stories. And if you’re someone who has never tried writing anything for fun, I challenge you to take a stab at it. You may hate it; but you’ll never know for sure until you sit down and give it a go.

What do you think about this question? What “legitimizes” a writer? How would you begin to define what it means to be a writer? Do you consider yourself a writer? If so, what kind of writer are you?