What Is a Real Writer?

What makes something or someone real?

Is it a transparent reality?

A threshold that has been crossed?

Something not imagined or supposed?

Whatever “real” is, it isn’t healthy to define it by someone’s opinion of what makes up reality.

When are you a real guitarist?

When you’re playing shows in a band that’s a household name? Or is it when you decide to practice the instrument for at least three hours every night?

The answer is, it’s a matter of believing in yourself and your ability. The moment you pick up the pen and scrawl words upon paper, you are a writer (yes, I started with a guitarist analogy, but plot twist!)

Every brilliant stroke of the fountain pen, every tap of the keys, they all lead to the same conclusion. You’re creating art, stringing words together and making coherent sentences that tell a story.

And I don’t mean only fiction writing. Stories are everywhere and in everything. Your life is a story written by the Creator of the Universe. That article about why dental offices need to organize their furniture to reduce stress and change the energy in the room is a story. That blog about Japan’s natural hot springs being far superior to the sulfuric, man-made onsens is a story.

The point is, whether you are just starting out or have written for twenty years, you can call yourself a writer. There is no magical, secret sauce needed to improve the flavor of the words you create.

The moment you begin, that’s when you can call yourself a writer.

How Can I Call Myself a Writer if I’m Not Writing?

The dreaded two words that make every writer shudder with horror. Writer’s block. The words also make me shudder, though I’m not one to subscribe to the notion of writer’s block. The solution to writer’s block is to get that behind in the chair and start filling the page with words, preferably words you wish to keep and use in the final product.

What would you do if you were having surgery and the surgeon suddenly said he or she had just come down with surgeon’s block?

Your life would be in danger.

Write through the uninspired days. Journal. Outline. Think of that exceptional battle you’re going to write in chapter 35. As long as you’re thinking about your story, or the next article you’re going to pitch to that magazine, you’re safe and a writer.

I understand there are days you’d rather take a jackhammer to your laptop than write the next word.

It happens to me, too.

The novel I’m currently writing is something that hasn’t been done before, mixing two things that shouldn’t go together. But I don’t care. They’re going to go together and it’s going to work. The work is what will make the magic happen.

Speaking of magic, writers have the magical ability to create life and take it away, repurpose pain into power, and change the course of history.
Again, I don’t mean fiction writing only. An article can set the world on fire, even if it’s a small part of the overall world.

As long as you’re putting words on the page, you’re a writer. If you’re thinking of where to go next, you’re a writer. Stop it with the impostor syndrome. It’s good to be humble, recognizing you may have a long way to go, or that maybe you aren’t the next Rowling (not that it can’t happen), but focus on your ability to write. You are good enough. If the magazine rejects your pitch, there may be another looking for just that thing. As long as you don’t give up, and keep the train moving, you are a writer.

Word Counts and Comparison

Another struggle I see in the writing community often is comparison to the greats. Or how much better someone is because they write 304,407,906 words per day. The truth is, those influential writers started out like you and I did. I don’t know if he was being serious or not, but I once saw Gaiman say he wrote Coraline at a pace of 50 words a night.

Some, like Murakami, write for a stretch of time and stop for the day rather than a set count of words.

For me, I think the sweet spot is between 1,500 and 2,000 words per night. That’s what works for me. I have written faster, and I have written slower, but that I’m writing counts.

This pace will give you a novel in three months or fewer.

Don’t let high-minded individuals with a holier-than-thou complex tell you that you aren’t a “real” writer if your word count is 500 words per day. Don’t feel superior if your personal count is 5,000 words per day.

The thing that makes us writers is that we write. Anything less than that or more than that is supplemental or detrimental to being a wordsmith.

Being a writer is like any other profession. You show up and get the work done. You’re done when the job’s done, and when you lay the metaphorical pipe in the trench and the water flows as intended, you’ve done it.

Write Every Day

If writing is your career, then this point is moot. But for those aspirants who would love to do it for a living, write something every single day. It doesn’t have to be huge. A journal entry about how your day went is fine.

Take a crack at a short story, because maybe it isn’t the right time for you to write that novel yet.

And if you are writing a novel, don’t let fear impede meeting your deadlines. If you meet your deadlines—whether professional or personal—you’ll be ahead of 99% of other writers. Meeting your deadlines by itself sets you apart from the rest.

Deadlines are sacred, but writing time is the will of heaven itself.

Let’s Wrap This Up

So, when can you call yourself a writer? Right now. You don’t have to be paid to call yourself a writer. The purpose of writing is to inform and inspire. If you can do those two things, even if you’re only enriching yourself, you’re a writer.

Forget the thresholds.

Dismiss the inner critic.

Just write.