What makes you a writer?

On some occasions, when I have opened profiles on new social media or websites, I have asked myself whether to put in my biography that I am a writer. The reason is that I don’t want to appear arrogant, or perhaps presumptuous. How can I say that I am a writer if I have never published anything?

Today, however, as I was thinking about ideas I wanted to write and this question came to my mind: what makes me a writer? I recommend that you also ask yourself that question because it is extremely important to build your personal identity. The answer I formulated in my mind was based on an idea I had read in James Clear’s well-known book Atomic Habits.

Your behaviors are usually a reflection of your identity

In other words, we act according to what we think we are and, at the same time, each of our actions defines who we are. What is a writer supposed to do? Well, look, the same word is telling you: A writer WRITE. This means that writing constantly can help you identify yourself as a writer and vice versa.

If you practice writing frequently, you don’t need anything else to consider yourself a writer. Of course, you can put adjectives to that noun. Let’s see, you can be a good writer or a bad writer, a published writer or an unpublished writer, a prolific writer or a writer who spends a long time pondering what to write.

Being a published writer is not the same as being a good writer

I need to clarify this because it is highly important. The publication is considered by many the consecration of the writer. However, let’s face it, there is a lot of junk content outside. Bad quality, like good quality, has different levels. In our times, and with the ease that almost anyone can publish their own book, we can find volumes even with obvious grammatical errors and full of spelling mistakes.

On the other hand, the fact that an author has not been published does not necessarily make him a bad writer. Generally, people who have not published are due to a lack of opportunity within publishers or because they have not had the resources to pay for their own book. Sometimes it is due to a lack of interest, but even so, this type of indifference cannot be considered synonymous with poor quality, because one thing has nothing to do with the other.

In addition, in these modern times, there are many writers who are not dedicated to writing books, but articles, reviews, scripts, etc. Are they less writers? Not at all. We need to open our minds to all the possibilities of this creative craft.

At this point, we must also talk about the influencers, or different personalities of culture and politics, of greater or lesser recognition or fame, who, just because they have published one single book, are already considered writers. Writing something once in your life does not make you a writer, nor does it make you a footballer to have played a couple of games with your friends, nor are you a pianist because you have learned to play a song.

You are a writer here and now, if you are a bad writer and practice a lot you will probably become a good writer over time, just as I wrote in a previous story. Publishing a book will not be a problem either if you try hard enough and if you are really interested in doing it, because I must insist that this is not the only way for those of our profession.

I have written all this to encourage you by saying this: if you want to be a writer, you just have to write. Just start and go to kill it!

I hope you enjoyed reading. If you did, let me know in the comments.